


Komadori

by maridoll



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: F/F, Phantom Thief AU, Robin Hood AU, disclaimer i dont hate erika it was accidental villain coding, in which che writes way too much yet again, tbh its a mix of the two but it was meant to be the first sooo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21915805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maridoll/pseuds/maridoll
Summary: moon and lillie move to kanto to start up a conservation area outside of celadon. when lack of funding gets in the way, moon turns to a more daring pastime to get what they need.
Relationships: Lilie | Lillie/Mizuki | Selene
Comments: 9
Kudos: 14
Collections: 2019 Pokémon Holiday Exchange





	Komadori

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neutralize](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neutralize/gifts).



“My father died,” Moon confesses to Lillie, after listening patiently, after hearing her struggle through talking about Mohn. Lillie looks up and opens her mouth, but she doesn’t say anything, stuck on the whimsical expression playing on Moon’s face.

It’s not until much later, when they’re sitting around a campfire with Gladion and Hau, and discussing all of their dads that no longer existed, that she bothers to bring it up. She turns away from Hau barking out a laugh, to Moon watching with a quiet smile on her face, and toys with her hands in her lap. Moon catches on, tilts her head towards Lillie, and raises her brows in question. Lillie says the words before she can think of backing out again.

“What about your dad?”

Moon blinks. Her expression morphs, but not by much. She tips her head back, gazing up at the stars, and hums as Gladion and Hau give her their attention. “He was a magician,” she finally says.

Hau gasps, leaning forward from where he sat. “Oh! Did you pick up on any of it? Got any tricks to show us?”

Her lips pull into a smile as she drops her gaze from the sky. “Well. I’m athletic,” she mentions. 

No one remarks that it wasn’t much of an answer.

-

Lillie meets her at the gates, wraps her in a tight hug, and Moon drops her hold on the suitcase handle to return it. They stand like that, quiet among the bustle of Saffron’s airport, until Lillie pulls back and Moon is met with her shining smile.

“I missed you,” she admits, and Moon resists the urge to pull her into another hug. She settles for Lillie’s hand instead, pulling her luggage along with her other hand. 

“It’s been a week,” Moon says, and follows up with a question before Lillie’s pout can turn into a retort. “How’s the new place?”

“Oh, good! Everything’s all moved in!” Lillie wrings her hands as she walks. “I used more of the grant money than I thought to pay rent,” she confesses. Moon catches the brief downturn of her lips and bumps her shoulder.

“Don’t stress. Everything’s gonna work out. You still got good funding for the project, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And I’ll earn enough from my gym challenge to cover everything else.” Moon grins, nudging Lillie’s shoulder again, and gets a slap on her arm in return. Lillie’s mouth is open in a laugh as she latches on to Moon’s arm, dragging her closer as they duck out the gates to the airport and skirt all the foot traffic. 

“I already know you’ll win,” Lillie says, and her eyes grow soft. 

Moon swallows the look, turning to face forward again, and then stops, suddenly caught on a stray thought that has her arms aching. “I know Celadon isn’t that far but. We’re not walking all the way there, right?”

Lillie laughs and pulls her forward again. Moon sweatdrops, not sure how to read it, and the weight of all her luggage suddenly feels ten times heavier.

“No, silly. There’s a stop at Celadon on the magnet train. It’s not that far from here, either.” Lillie laughs again at Moon’s too-obvious expression of relief, and then she reaches out, toying with the strap of one of Moon’s bags before slipping it off her shoulder. “Here, let me carry something.”

“Thanks.” Moon rolls her freed shoulder a little. “My mom said she sent decoration stuff. Did you-”

“Yes!” Lillie turns giddy. “Just the other day, it all came in the mail. I already have everything set up. I can’t wait for you to see it, it looks fantastic!”

She wasn’t wrong. It did. Moon pauses in the mouth of the doorway, eyes moving from one thing to another, admiring the setup of their quaint apartment in northern Celadon. The smell of something sweet pulls her further in, and she lets the door slip shut behind her, setting down all her things in the entrance hall before following the scent.

There’s food simmering on the stove, and the breathy sound of Lillie’s giggles behind her as she wanders up.

“I made lunch before I came to pick you up.” She points to the bowls set out on the counter. “Have some? I’m sure you need it. I’ll put all your stuff away while you do.”

Moon has two bowls before she decides to explore, opening all the cabinets and drawers and the pantry and the fridge and everything she can get her hands on and tug open. Lillie comes back in to find her investigating dish towels and pauses.

Moon whips her head around when she notices and abandons the towels in favor of sweeping Lillie off her feet, spinning them around the sunlit room. “I love it!” she announces. “It’s amazing!”

Lillie blushes but the shock of being picked up has turned into a well-worn smile as she places her hands on Moon’s shoulders. “You haven’t even seen the rest of it,” she chides. Moon sets her down and nods.

“Right. The rest. Thanks!” And then she’s off, zipping out of the kitchen to investigate their new home.

Lillie pauses on that thought. Their new home. _Their_ new home. She . . still really likes the sound of that.

-

“It’s only temporary,” Moon confesses. “Maybe a year or so. Just until the conservation site is finished.”

Kukui hums, expression still pinched. “Aren’t there better people?”

“I’d ask Hau, but he’s too busy as the psychic trial captain. None of the elite four can step up, or I’d have to get somebody to replace _them_.”

“Gladion-”

“Isn’t a good choice. Plus, there’s no way he would accept.”

Kukui raises a brow. “So you’ve tried?”

Moon groans, slumping down against the counter. “Yes, I _tried!_ What a wasted effort that was.”

“He is pretty busy these days,” Kukui comments. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Moon raises her head quickly. “Really?! You mean it?”

“Yeah! This trip means a lot to you, right? And you need help. You came to me for it, so why wouldn’t I say yes?”

Moon bites her tongue, resists the urge to say what’s on her mind, the _you didn’t say yes to start with_ on the tip. “Thank you,” she says instead, and she means it with all her might. 

“What’s one more time?” Kukui crosses his arms, but his confident look fades slightly. “Even though last time was . . significantly shorter.”

“It won’t be forever,” Moon promises. “We’re not staying in Kanto for long. Just until Lillie’s project is done.”

“Burnet mentioned she got the funding she needed.”

Moon hesitates. “Mostly. She’s got part of it. It’s a good chunk, and she’s not done yet, but. It’s not all she needs.”

“And what are you going to do?”

Moon grins, turning zealous. “There’s a gym challenge that should keep me occupied.”

-

“I’ll take Lapras for the rock gym. And Deci for water gym.”

“What about Raichu?”

Moon shakes her head. “I’m saving him for Koga.”

“Saving?” Lillie cocks a brow. “You know it’s a three-on-three battle, right?”

Moon glances up from her notes, pen pausing its scrawl over the page. “What?”

“Moon, you lived here most of your life.” Lillie deadpans. “How do you not know this?”

“W-Well-” She glances away, face turning red. “I guess I’ve grown used to Alolan customs. It’s really not one-on-one?”

“Sometimes they’ll use four.”

Moon blanches, turning back to her page. “Okay, okay! I’ll rework it. I’ll take Lapras and Deci and, uh, Lycanroc. Then for Cerulean, I’ll take Deci, Raich, and Ori.”

Lillie blinks, then turns to look at Moon’s Oricorio, sunbathing on a window ledge, bright red coat of feathers gleaming in the light. “Are you sure?”

Moon glances up again, catching Lillie’s line fo sight. “Oh. I got some nectar, before I left,” she admits. Lillie nods.

“Vermillion will be tricky,” Moon mumbles, and then she clams up.

Lillie wanders over, leaning on Moon’s shoulder to see her notes. “Surge, right? He was tough for me too.”

Moon nods, but her throat is sticky, and she doesn’t try and speak. Vermillion. She’d forgotten, in her rush to get here, in all the excitement of the past few days.

Her home. Her first home.

Her mind wanders, to a bigger house near the ocean, to wandering the docks, tot he fish market, to the bustle of trainers traveling through on their gym challenge.

A tap on her shoulder brings her back. 

“You good?” Lillie asks. “You spaced out.”

“Yeah,” Moon manages. 

“I guess you don’t really have any effective pokemon for his team,” Lillie muses. “Lapras and Minior are out. Oricorio, too. You can try Lycanroc?”

“He does have a ground type move. Okay.” She jots the name down. “Raich wouldn’t hurt, either.”

“What about Erika?”

“Ori.” Moon pauses. “That’s here.” She tilts her head. “Would you come watch?”

“It depends on how busy I am.” Lillie brightens at Moon’s pout. “I’ll try, though! Promise.” 

“Deci and Lapras,” Moon decides, turning back to the paper. 

“You need a fourth.”

“Oh. Hmm. Minior, then.”

“Then Fus-” Lillie breaks off, brows drawing together. “Wait.”

“Hmm?”

“Who was Fuschia’s gym leader?”

“Koga. That’s who I’m using Raicu against.”

“No.”

“No?” Moon cocks her head back. “Why?”

“Koga isn’t the Fuschia gym leader.” Lillie is upside down from this angle, hands on her hips. Moon blinks.

“He’s not?”

“It’s his daughter. Her name’s Janine, if I remember correctly.”

“Oh.” Moon turns her vision right side up. “Guess I have to research her more than the rest, then. What type is she?”

“Still poison. She’s a different brand than Koga, though.”

“Noted. For now I’ll take Lycanroc too.”

“What about Sabrina?”

“Deci. Ori, too, if I change her type.”

“And Blaine?”

Moon huffs out a laugh under her breath. “He’s still the gym leader?” She moves the pen across the page before Lillie can answer. “Minior.”

Lillie bends close again, scanning the page. “And Green?”

Moon shivers, a narrowed glare and a fiery atmosphere coming to mind. “I don’t know.”

“I guess he is the last one,” Lillie muses. “This is pretty good planning so far.”

Moon grins at her, all teeth. “Thanks!”

-

Lillie is at work, so Moon spends her day wandering the streets of Celadon. It’s been a while since she’s been here, and even longer since she’s explored. They don’t live that far from the department store, so after perusing everything along the way, Moon ducks inside, sternly telling herself she couldn’t buy anything, no matter the temptation.

The first floor is more a reception area. People mill about. There’s signs pointing out what every floor housed. There are workers stationed behind counters to direct those who couldn’t be bothered to read. Moon’s eyes catch on a bell ringer near one of the elevators. Her eyes move to the sign above the money bucket, and she finds her feet pulling her near when she spots what it read.

“Pokemon conservation efforts,” she mumbles, stopping before the sign, at an angle, so she wasn’t blocking the view from wealthy shoppers passing by. The bell ringer turns to her and smiles.

“It’s a region-wide project headquartered here in Celadon,” she says to Moon. Moon glances up.

“Oh, I know-” she begins, hand raised, not wanting to keep the woman. She already knew her weight about the project, and surely there were better people running about that would donate. That _could_ , because what would be the use in her doing it, really-

“Ah!” The woman blinks, stepping closer. “You’re Moon, aren’t you?”

Moon drops her hand. “You . . know my name?” She blinks. Okay, she hadn’t been in town _that_ long. And the only ones who would remember her from when she was little would be in Vermillion.

“Lillie talks about you all the time,” the woman admits, and everything clicks into place. “I didn’t recognize you until I saw your face.”

“Oh.” She blinks. “Um-”

“I’m Mary.” Mary holds out her hand, the one not holding the bell. “I was one of Lady Erika’s gym trainers, but now I’m a full-time university student. I’m involved with the conservation efforts.”

Moon nods, accepting the handshake. She nods her head to Mary’s setup. “This is kind of . . an unorthodox method to get funding.”

Mary’s face downfalls, partly. “We’re doing everything we can. Things have been tough. And with the Machoke incident, more money is going into replacing what we already had.”

Moon tries to keep her expression neutral, but she can’t help a bit of disbelief that slips through. “Incident . . ? Is everything okay?”

“As far as I know. I wasn’t there myself, but I heard no people or pokemon were harmed. I can’t say the same for the equipment, though. And everything costs money.”

“Right,” Moon mutters, thoughts already turning in her head. 

Mary sighs. “Hopefully we can gather enough to start on time. This is a really important project, y’know? I really admire all of Lillie’s efforts.”

“Thank you.” Moon nods to the money bucket. “Good luck. I’d put some in myself, but.”

“Oh, no!” Mary waves her off. “I completely understand! Sorry to hold you up, have a good time in the store!”

She says this, but before Moon can make an escape, Mary’s calling back to her.

“I’m not sure if Lillie’s told you, but Lady Erika has an archery range near the gym grounds. Lillie mentioned you were an archer, so I got permission from Lady Erika for you to use it, if you want.”

The news catches Moon off-guard. Her bow had barely been unpacked and set up in the bedroom. Her quiver was still in a box somewhere. 

“I appreciate it,” she tells Mary, neither an acceptance nor denial. Mary waves her off as she ascends the stairs to the second floor.

-

Moon tiptoes around Lillie. She observes. She begins to notice the distress peppered among Lillie’s actions. She picks up on her worn face that she conceals with makeup. 

If she didn’t want to tell Moon, that was her choice. She wasn’t going to confront her about it.

But she doesn’t know how to make it any easier, either. She holds off on leaving for her gym challenge. Lillie asks about it some, but Moon dodges the questions every time. “Not yet,” she says. _You need me more, here,_ she doesn’t say, but oh, she thinks it, constantly.

Lillie gets home late one night as Moon is finishing with dinner. She sets the spoon down and turns the stove off when she hears the door open and a shuffle that signified Lillie discarding her shoes in the hall. Moon pokes her head out the kitchen doorway and watches as Lillie puts a hand to her face.

She stays like that for a long moment. When she pulls away, her face is wet. 

Moon pushes into the hallway, concerned. It scares Lillie, and she jumps at the movement, hand over her heart. She breathes out a sigh as she sees it’s only Moon. “You scared me,” she says quietly.

Moon flicks on the hallway light and Lillie flinches. She pads closer and Lillie hurriedly wipes away her tears. “I-It’s nothing,” she says, but her voice catches, and Moon is already grabbing her hand, pulling her to the main room. She sets them both down on the small couch.

“It’s not nothing,” Moon tells her, voice soft. “Something’s been bothering you for a while now. Tell me. Please.”

Lillie blinks, once, surprised Moon had noticed. And then there are tears steaming down her face, and her lips curl down and a noise leaves her throat. Moon pulls her close and Lillie curls into her, crying into the curve of her neck. “I don’t know what to do,” she stammers out. Moon wraps her arms around Lillie’s back and holds her tight.

When Lillie has calmed down some, she pulls back slightly, so that she can see Moon’s face. “A wild Machoke halted production last week,” she admits. “It destroyed a lot of our equipment, and some of our investors backed out after seeing the damage. I had some people quit, too, worried about their safety. We-We didn’t get a lot of money. Not nearly as much as we need. And dealing with that, that was a blow to our budget. And then-” She chokes up again, and it takes her a long moment to settle.

“Then it got cut again, this morning. By a lot. It’s going to the League instead, they said. The League needs it more.” Her face screws up. “There’s almost nothing left, now. We can’t do _anything_ with what we have. We can’t even start up again. I had to halt production.” Her grips is tight on Moon’s arms. It wavers, at her last words, hands trembling. “Everything’s falling apart,” she whispers.

Moon moves one hand rubbing Lillie’s back to her head, slipping it into the light strands. “It-” She bites her lip. She can’t say it’ll be okay. “Things were never going to be perfect,” she says instead. “But you’ll figure something out. I know you will.” Lillie nods, but she still looks crestfallen. She still looks like she’s going to cry. “Ask the city,” Moon says, and Lillie looks up.

“There are tons of rich people living in Celadon. Get permission to hold a rally. Give a speech. Tell people about the conservation, and ask them to give. That’s a place to start, right?”

Lillie chews on her lower lip, but she eventually nods. “I’ll talk it over tomorrow. See what everyone says.”

“Okay.” Moon smiles, hugs her close. “Please tell me about these things,” she requests. “I want to know. Of course I want to know when things go good, but I want you to confide in me when they go bad, too. I had to hear about Machoke from a collector at the department store.”

Lillie pulls back again and red covers her face. “Y-You got told?” Moon nods and she throws her head back, groaning. “I’m sorry.”

“She said something about an archery field, too,” Moon recalls. Lillie looks back to her, her blush calming down.

“Oh.” Her voice is weak. “Yeah. I guess I forgot about that. Word got to Erika that you were an archer. You have permission to use the field.” Her shoulders slouch. “Sorry. I guess I got so busy I-”

“Don’t even worry about it. I know you’ve had more to worry about.” Moon perks up, nodding her head to the left. “Dinner’s ready. Are you hungry?”

Lillie lets herself be pulled to a stand. “I’ll eat, if you made it.”

Moon smiles. “Then you’re in luck.”

-

The next day, Moon treks out to Vermillion.

It had been a long time coming. She should have done it sooner.

No one stops her. No one calls out to her. Not like she expected it, really. She’d been gone a long time. Over ten years, now. 

Things have changed, but Vermillion, at its core, has not. She still walks down a path of old, uneven brick. The road is still inlaid with dusty sand from the beach surrounding the city. It’s still very hot, and very humid. The weather reminds her more of Alola than anything else. Of Malie, maybe. Or Konikoni. 

Moon is heartbroken. Her shoulders are heavy as she walks. Lillie had laid out all her troubles, and Moon has no idea how to help. 

Her feet carry her through the streets until she reaches the docks, and she toes her shoes off, walking down the wooden planks barefoot. Dark sand gathers on her soles. She swings her shoes loosely in one hand, turning her head to watch the tide move in and out on her right. 

She doesn’t quite realize where she’s moving until her feet hit soft grass, and then the hard earth disappears in favor of sand, the coastline extended inland. She trips under the uneven footing, holding out her arms to steady herself, and then whips around.

Her old house sits behind her. A ways away, but the porch steps were still nestled only a few feet from the sand. She remembers that.

She doesn’t quite remember the tide moving so far in.

Moon moves toward the structure out of instinct or curiosity -maybe both. A gust of wind has her ducking her head, and it’s the only thing that saves her from stepping into the hole in the ground.

Moon blinks, but there was no mistaking a Diglett hole. In the sand, too, that was . .

She steps over the hole and watches the ground. More appear the closer she gets to the house. She stops after she sees a cluster off to the side, in the grass. That made more sense, but still, why would Diglett come all the way out here? How did they get from the runnel to the beach?

Her hand tightens over a pokeball and she eyes the hills to her right, the ones she knew would take her over and down to route 11, and to Diglett’s Cave. 

In the next moment she’s stuffing her shoes back on and breaking out into a jog. Her old house sat in a dip in the land, so she has to scale up the hills to reach Vermillion’s outskirts proper, and then move back down them to end up on route 11. Moon pushes aside undergrowth as her feet dig into the ground, driving her forward. She can’t see well until she’s over the edge, head moving above all the leafage as she reaches the peak, and then her next step is a quick, downward one that has her falling back to keep from pitching forward and down. She lets her form be swallowed by the tall grass, her breath leaving her and her eyes fixed on the clouds.

When she descends, she’s more careful. She also edges herself north, so that she’ll be closer to the cave’s entrance when she’s on stable ground. 

Unfortunately, stable ground looks to be another Diglett hole.

Moon stares at it. Her eyes wander back over the hills. It was still too far out to be normal.

She’s quick as she approaches the tunnel entrance, noting each stray Diglett hole she passes along the way. The ground becomes spotty and uneven near the tunnel, and Moon is careful to watch her step as she moves inside, popping the pokeball in her hands open to let Raichu out.

The natural light surrounding her pokemon aids her as she wanders deeper into the cave. Moon is careful in her step, hearing rustling noises every so often from her periphery that she knew were Diglett and Dugtrio burrowing down into the dirt. Moon glances at Raichu and they cut left, heading back to where Vermillion sat. If there was anything wrong that would cause the pokemon to act up, it would have to be in that direction.

Moon hisses under her breath as her heel catches in another hole, carefully prying herself out of the dirt. Above her, Raichu snickers, and she loathes him for a solid moment for his ability to hover in the air. Then he comes closer, providing her with more light, and Moon casts him a thankful look.

As they move deeper, a flapping of wings catches her attention. Moon knocks her head up and left to see a few Zubat watching her from the top of the tunnel. Well. As long as they didn’t bother her.

That didn’t last long.

The flapping of wings kicks up until Raichu makes a noise, and Moon looks over to see a larger group of Zubat gathered. She takes another step forward and several of them screech, detaching from the wall.

Moon’s eyes widen and Raichu is before her in the next moment. Most of the Zubat are in the air now, making towards them, and Moon lets out a sigh to curse her luck before she’s commanding Raichu to handle them.

“Raich, use Psychic,” she calls. She keeps her voice clipped so the echo isn’t too bad. Raichu nods and flies forward, lifting his paws and catching most of the Zubat in the grip of his psychic power. He tosses them around a bit, fraying their nerves, and when he releases them all the Zubat turn tail and move deeper into the cave. Even the ones still hanging from the ceiling flee.

Moon breathes out again and thanks her pokemon. 

It’s not until they’re further in that she realizes she hasn’t found what she’s looking for, or even what she should be watching for in the first place. Nothing seemed abnormal. Nobody was here with her, that she could sense. She’s sure Raichu would have alerted her if otherwise.

Frowning, she reaches for a pokeball and sends out Lycanroc next.

“Hey,” she says, crouching down to pet the pokemon’s mane. “Help me out here. Can you sniff out . . . anything wet? Like sea water?”

If her assumption was correct, some of the holes dug would have gotten covered by the tide. Salt water had a very distinct scent, especially underground where it didn’t belong. Lycanroc gives her one sharp nod before pressing his nose to the ground, moving further in the direction she’d been going.

It doesn’t take long for him to snap his head up. He gestures for her to follow, and Moon has Raichu keep pace, providing them light to keep out of the ever-increasing amount of holes dug into the ground.

Lycanroc jumps up to the more sturdy formations forming walls of sorts in the cave, and Moon scrambles after him, sending a silent prayer as her feet leave the ground proper that she wouldn’t fall through, doomed to an eternal fate under the earth.

Her pokemon lead her through the main part of the cave until they come upon an opening two feet wide and four feet thick. The ground opened up past it, and Moon catches herself at its lip, urging Lycanroc to be cautious as he sniffed around it.

The next opening they came to was a little more people-sized. Still narrow, and low enough that Moon had to crouch, but Lycanroc pushes himself through, Raichu following, and Moon frowns for a good moment before hesitantly moving after them.

This was dangerous, she acknowledges. She’s careful not to touch the walls of the path, and winces each time Lycanroc’s tail happens to do so. As a child, she’d been warned against the splinter branches in the Diglett tunnel. The main path had been carved out after centuries of digging, but the paths that branched off were newer, fresher, and far less stable. One could collapse at a moment’s notice. Especially with all the activity going around.

Their path curves into three more, so Moon had about nine feet between her and the walls. Unfortunately, it never got taller.

Lycanroc sniffs the ground again, perks up, and wanders deeper in. Moon follows with a sigh. Hopefully he was as good at getting them out as he was leading them in.

The next time the path converged, it shrunk in half, so Moon couldn’t stretch her wingspan without touching dirt. She keeps close to herself, urges Raichu to duck lower, and has a firm gaze on the back of Lycanroc’s figure.

He breaks out into a sprint and Moon grabs Raichu in her haste to catch up, pushing forward until the ceiling breaks from her head, moving much higher, and she enters into a longer tunnel. Lycanroc is paused at the center, and Moon releases Raichu to wander up, observing the patch of wet earth before her gaze moves up to the drips falling from the earth above them.

Lycanroc sits as a Diglett pops up from the ground a few paces from them, and Moon has a conniption, startling badly. Her pokemon don’t laugh at her, but seeing as the Diglett only eyes them curiously, they don’t move to attack either.

Moon settles with a harsh huff and moves until she’s under the wet patch. _Very_ dangerous, she acknowledges, because how much of it was wet, and how little prodding would it take to all cave in-

She stops herself before she can finish that thought. Diglett disappears back underground. Lycanroc barks to get her attention, back on his feet, and Moon looks over before he pushes forward, carrying them further down the splinter branch.

Where were they? Somewhere near the ocean. That much was obvious. But it also rained a fair amount near this area. Did that have anything to do with it? If it did, they could be anywhere by now. Closer to Vermillion’s western bay, or even near route 6. 

The sound of moving earth snaps her from her thoughts. Moon looks up to see one Diglett burrowing, and another popping up from the ground. Lycanroc has stopped moving so quickly, sniffing the air. Moon watches as a Diglett burrows again and fails to resurface. Her brows crease. Another Diglett appears, swivels its eyes to the side of the tunnel, and then burrows under.

Moon frowns.

Lycanroc lets out a whine. He paws at the earth, damp at their feet, and then circles. Moon moves closer and he shakes his head, trotting away. He moves to the sides, where the dirt pressed thick, and a warning to not mess with it is on the tip of her tongue. 

A Diglett appears from the ground right in front of the wall. Moon freezes, and Lycanroc tips his head to eye it, whining again. Diglett panics, burrows under, and a few moments later, Moon hears it resurface to their left.

She blinks. Lycanroc perks up as well. But.

To their left was the wall.

Moon’s face screws up. “The hell?” she mutters, moving closer. She presses her hand to the earth, finding it damp. But that was wrong. Surely the Diglett were just as worried about structural integrity. Yeah, they could survive a cave-in, but not at the expense of their hard work. Why would one tunnel blindly into a hollow spot, create it in the first place, if it was a risk?

Moon walks forward and keeps her hand on the wall. Lycanroc dogs after her at her feet, still whining and sniffing and whimpering at the wall. He barks once, startling Moon, and her hand digs into the wall on impulse. Before she can spin around and berate her pokemon, the earth falls forward, away from her hold, and Moon watches with wide eyes as a slab falls away from the rest of the wall.

It glows bright, and Raichu makes a noise that has her stepping back, breath still caught in her throat, as he settles the false wall at her feet. She eyes it for a long moment, the turns to the opening that had been created.

“Raich,” she whispers, her pokemon gliding forward and scaring off a lone Diglett that inhabited the space. The light he provides allows her to step forward, and she finds herself in a small room, no more than five feet across and six feet in height. The edges are curved and muddied, uneven, so there was no way it was man-made.

But that was a different story for what laid inside.

Several pokemon-dug holes dotted the area, and Moon took care to watch her step. A dresser was in the corner, beaten, with the legs sunk deep into the earth. The bottom drawer was too submerged to be opened, but the one above it was tugged forward, like the furniture had slipped at an angle over time. That’s the first thing that catches her eye, so Moon wanders over to it and moves her fingers across the edge of the drawer before pulling on it.

Inside lies a batch of old trinkets. A few decks of cards, some bangles, a shallow box filled with dice. A handful of pressed flowers and another pile of fake, vibrant ones. Stacks of gloves, white upon black upon white again. 

Moon tugs open the first drawer after catching herself staring too long and draws in a deep breath. She spins on her heels and returns Lycanroc, and then digs out her phone and turns on the flashlight before returning Raichu as well. Moon settles it in her breast pocket, light shining in front of her, and looks again to the pressed outfit situated in the top drawer. Her eyes scan the dark green hood before anything else, finding discomfort in its rumpled state, and reaching out to fix it only for the crinkle of paper to meet her ears.

Moon draws in another breath and tugs the cloak out. An envelope falls out from its depths, landing at her feet. She picks it up carefully, eyeing the waxed seal, the familiar insignia of a Pidgeot’s wings sprouted in flight.

Moon sets the cloak so that it hangs from the dresser and turns around. By the light of her phone she spots a small, low table with a single chair and moves over to it. She pulls the chair out and pauses before she sits down, eyes locked to the old bow on the table’s edge. An arrow sat notched inside. There were more in a distinct quivver leaning against a table leg.

Moon takes another deep breath and feels her throat close and sits down before she can fall off her feet. 

The letter is addressed to her. If she didn’t know before, she knew now who this room belonged to.

_Dearest Mizuki,_

_Quite the collection I’ve gathered, huh? I wish I could present you with a stunning jewelry box, but my brand was returning everything I took. Still, I hope what you find here satisfies you._

_Perhaps you stumbled upon this place. Perhaps you sought it out. Whatever the case, from now on, everything here belongs to you. Do with it what you see fit. Though, I would highly suggest destroying more incriminating evidence rather than unveiling it to the light. Indigo knew me as a magician first, and I would rather others not learn of my second pastime._

_Tell me, Mizuki, have you heard of the nine gems of Kanto?_

_There’s a gemstone, the rarest of its kind, in each city of Kanto that also houses a gym. Strange coincidence, right? The ninth gem, perhaps the most grand of them all, is located in the reception hall of the Indigo Plateau. Though Komadori was a splendid thief, a trainer he was not. I never made it there to have a look at the ninth gemstone._

_The gems are cycled every so often through the cities. They go on tours for public viewing, and settle in a different location for a few years at a time. Even the ones that belong in name to more aristocratic families take leave from their owners to travel. For the life of me, I had never managed to find a pattern of where they would end up._

_I do know this much. Of the nine gems, there is one special, housing a tenth in its depths. You’ll know when you find it by holding it up to the moonlight. Pandora is the only gemstone that will glimmer when shone, and cry tears of crystal. And the only one said to grant its owner eternal fortune._

_Quite the interesting story, no? I thought so too, when I first learned of it. But it seems the protectors of Kanto will go to great lengths to guard this secret. I am positive, though, that the one who possesses Pandora does not know what it truly contains. I kept searching, and they kept searching, and along the way it appears that I drew the short straw._

_I’m sorry that I can’t be there to watch you grow up._

Moon crumples the letter in her fingers and lets the tears drip down her face. She curls her knees to her chest and sits there, in the dark, for a long, long time. 

The she reads over the rest of the letter. She folds it and places it back in the envelope. She leaves it on the table and moves away and wanders back with a stack of papers and makes a decision.

In the next moment, she’s gathered the green hood and ties it until it functions as a bag. She throws in the pressed clothes, loops the bag over her shoulder, and grabs a few of the playing cards, blank, before she can walk out of the room.

Raichu is cooperative in sealing back up the false wall, yet all Moon can think on is that Pewter connected to the end of Diglett’s Cave, and that it wasn’t too early enough in Alola to make a phone call.

-

Moon tells her mother, because she tells her mother everything. She takes one look at the clothes gathered in Moon’s arms and interrupts her. 

“You can’t be Komadori in that outfit.”

Moon blinks, startled. “Wh- But this is-”

“Moon, your father was taller than you. There’s no way those will fit.”

“Then I’ll have them altered,” she insists. Her mother snorts.

“Right, just walk into a tailor shop with the outfit of Kanto’s phantom thief of old. Nothing will go wrong there.” She holds up a hand before Moon can yell at her to work off the blush growing on her face. “If you wait, though, I’ll make you one.”

Moon lets her frustration subside. “You will?”

“Why are you doing this?” her mother asks, instead of confirming.

“Oh.” She lets her shoulders drop, but her expression turns steely. “Lillie needs help. So I’m helping her.”

“You’re going to steal for her?”

“I’m-!” Moon cuts herself off, the _not_ just barely avoiding falling off her tongue. She stares at her mother for a long moment. “Yes.”

“What’s your target?” 

“The Pewter Museum of Science,” Moon announces.

“What? Why? What’s there?”

“Currently? The Rose Thorns.”

Her mother’s eyes widen. They don’t return to normal. “That’s the elbaite of Kanto’s nine gems,” she says, voice faint. Moon nods and she moves her face closer to the screen. “Mizuki. You can’t expect to hold on to those for long.”

“I’m not planning to.” Moon purses her lips, because this is the crazy part of her plan, the one she hasn’t dared to say aloud. “I’m going to ransom them off. Whoever’s been guarding them so far would pay whatever price to get them back. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Her mother leans back again and huffs out a sigh. She crosses her arms. “Just like your father,” she mutters. “You wind back up in Kanto and the first thing you want to do is stir up trouble.”

“Dad wasn’t a battler.” Moon’s words are harsher than intended, but it gets the point across. “Not like I am. I’ll be different.”

She’s met with silence for a long time. Finally, her mother sighs again and drops her arms. “Hold off on your calling card. In two weeks you’ll be holding a costume in your hands.”

Moon nods, her eyes bright, and she lets the clothes fall from her arms in favor of grabbing the screen by its sides. “Thank you,” she tells her mom, and she means it.

“Just remember.” Her expression turns stern. “Rose Thorns isn’t Pandora. But the closer you get, the more danger you’ll be putting yourself into.”

Then she says, in a smaller voice, “And remember what Komadori stands for.”

The screen goes black.

-

“How long will you be gone?”

Moon looks up with a smile, slipping the last item into her bag. “Maybe a week.”

Lillie puffs out her cheeks and Moon laughs, walking over to deflate them with her fingers. “It’s the furthest gym,” she says, smoothing her touch into a caress. “They won’t all be like this. Most are a stone’s throw away. Just let me have this.”

Lillie relaxes in Moon’s hold and manages a nod. “Okay. Be safe.”

Moon doesn’t promise that, and she’s glad she did, as she sits in the small, cold room deep underground. Her bag is open as she picks items from trays and stuffs them in, mentally praising her father for his handiwork. There was so much to work with here. And now it was all hers.

She pauses, her heart clenching as she recalls her mother’s words. Her lips purse.

“It’s a good cause,” she mutters to the dark. “Some people need that money more than others.”

She settles a dark green cloak over the unopened parcel her mother had sent. Four days to showtime.

-

Brock is _tough_ , but it comes down to his Kabutops, and after surviving a nasty x-scissor, Moon calls for Decidueye to use spirit shackle. With Kabutops pinned down, all it takes it a well-timed razor leaf to knock it out of commission.

Moon throws both arms in the air as Brock returns Kabutops to its pokeball, and Decidueye glides down to wrap her in a hug, not bothering the movement as she jumps up and down.

She takes her boulder badge with a big smile and the 13,000 poke with an even bigger one. 

“I had a lot of fun in this battle,” Brock admits. “It’s been a welcome distraction from all this nonsense about Komadori. Though, you may be too young to remember that.” Brock scratches his head. “What was your name again?”

“Mizuki,” Moon says, sliding her new gym badge up her sleeve and returning Decidueye to his pokeball with her other hand. “I go by Moon. And trust me, I remember the phantom thief well.” moon salutes the gym leader, the easy smile still on her face. “Good luck, if it turns out to be real. And thanks for the great battle!”

“I appreciate that.” Brock holds out his hand and Moon takes it without delay. “Well, Moon, I’ll have to forewarn Misty of your arrival. Cerulean is next, right?”

“That’s the plan, sir! Though the ‘when’ is a different story. I’m here to sightsee as much as I am to battle.”

Brock lets out a loud laugh. “A good choice! Kanto has a lot to offer. I wish you the best, Moon.”

She takes her team to the pokemon center she’s rented a room out of for the next few days. While they’re healing up, Moon pulls all the battle earnings from her pockets and collects it into a money envelope, stuffing it into the bottom of her bag. Then she pulls out a copy of a public floor plan she’d obtained of Pewter’s famous museum, and a thick red marker, and begins to put what she’d been taught into practice.

-

Her father used a Pidgeot, but she would have to make do with Decidueye. “Keep your head tucked and we’ll be fine,” she mumbles, throwing on her own dark hood and pulling it low to conceal her face. The bird pokemon were similar enough. It was night, two minutes to eleven on the dot. The moonlight was partially concealed by clouds. It was going to be fine.

Plus, have a ghost type help her was going to be _fun_.

Moon moves to check the strap to her bow on her back. Her fingers dig into her sleeves, into the pockets of her shirt, counting her supplies. She takes a deep breath and takes a step toward the wall, moving onto the balls of her feet once again to test the new shoes. Everything was good.

 _It’s a show, it’s a show_ , Moon thinks, positioning herself right in front of the wall. They were squeezed into a small curator’s room in the back of the museum, one directly behind the case where Rose Thorns sat. Moon had done her best guess on the positioning of the officers. If Brock had shown, he was still outside. 

She inhales and palms a purple ball and turns a steely gaze to the wall in front of her. “Go,” she mutters.

Immediately Decidueye reaches out, wings wrapping around her arms, pushing her forward, and then phasing out, and Moon doesn’t feel it when she moves through the wall, only when she’s released and her pokemon retreats back to where he couldn’t be seen. For now.

She lands with two near-silent _thumps_ , one for each of her boots, and finds herself met with the back of the case. The gemstone was behind the glass, raised on a small pedestal, maybe the height of Moon’s palm. Her cloak ruffles from the movement, and the strips of silver it held glimmered in the faint light. Enough to catch the eye of one of the officers in front of the case.

Moon grins from under her hood, the only part of her face visible, and throws the smoke ball to the ground just as the officer turns his head and opens his mouth to shout in alarm.

Moon rushes forward, the low visibility not a problem, and pries the glass casing up until she can reach far enough to snag the gem from the stand. She lets it drop back down and gets a foot on the ledge and uses all her weight to pry herself up, until her boots were atop the glass casing, and the smoke was settling to reveal the handful of officers forming a vague attempt of a semi-circle around the display. Then she spreads her arms and lets the silver lining of the cape take center stage, maintaining her grin as she brandishes Rose Thorns in her left hand.

“Good evening,” she declares, voice carrying across the room but pitched evenly. She tips her head slightly and lets a little of her dark hair spill in a tangle over her shoulder, just brushing her neck, like the old Komadori had done.

The officers break into a frenzy, shouting about how she had managed to get in, to slip past them, some questioning who she was and others commenting that this _must be_ Komadori, making a big return, and Moon eats it all up and bends her knees and waits until the first officer settles a hand on his gun holster to _leap_ over all of them, sliding down another display case further into the room.

“Well, it’s been fun, but I’d like to keep tonight short,” Moon tells them, lifting a hand in a wave. She turns and runs the last few paces to the windowsill at the front of the room, ignoring the pounding of approaching feet in favor of pushing the window outward. Moon turns around and _Komadori_ salutes the officers, and then falls back out of the second story window, and then _lifts into the sky_.

“Keep your head down, Deci,” she mumbles, knowing her cloak would conceal her pokemon’s own dark green hood from view. There are talons on her back in a careful grip and wings unfurled behind her, lifting them both higher and further away from the museum. Moon stuffs the gemstone into the folds of her clothes and risks a glance below once the incessant shouting reaches her.

“Leader Brock, it’s him! It’s the real deal!”

“Looks like I was wrong,” Brock admits, gaze locked onto Moon’s form. “Guess it really is Komadori. Alright then.” He cracks his neck. “I apologize for not offering assistance before,” he assures an officer in a long trench coat. “Allow me to do so now.”

Decidueye coos and Moon gasps as a large shadow enters her periphery, and she turns enough to make out the giant form of Brock’s Onix.

“Iron tail!” Brock calls, and Onix swings its raised tail straight at them.

“Deci, pull up!” Moon hisses. “Up!”

They twirl around, just barely managing to avoid the attack that slams down into the ground instead. Moon unclips her bow from its harness around her back and takes aim, one flap from Decidueye’s wings steadying them in the air, and another just as she nocks back an arrow and fires, a carefully concealed razor leaf following just behind it, out of view.

The razor leaf hits point blank, sending Onix rearing back, and the arrow makes impact, bursting the package of stun powder that has the pokemon crumpling to the ground, paralyzed.

Moon mourns the loss of an arrow, grateful that she hadn’t used one of her own in this test, and secures her bow again as Decidueye zooms off, leading them further away from the panic at the museum, to the city’s outskirts.

They land hard on the edge of route 2 and Moon rolls on her shoulders into a crouch, eyes roving until they situate onto the entrance to Diglett’s Cave. “Nice accuracy,” she praises Decidueye, then returns him to his pokeball and sprints to the cave, not slowing until she was several paces inside.

Moon bumps around the edge of the wall until her feet kick against her bag, and then she dives for it, slipping the gem inside before tossing it over her shoulders. She releases Decidueye again, because ghost-types could see in the dark, and being able to fly over all the holes dug in the tunnel would mean making faster progress.

She makes it to the room a little after three in the morning, when the adrenaline has far since worn off. As much as she doesn’t want to sleep here, Moon shrugs off her cloak and tosses it over the back of the chair, and then rummages through her bag until she pulls out some regular clothes to change into.

By the time she’s finished, she’s already half asleep folded over the table. It’s easy to slip her eyes shut and fall into slumber.

-

Moon practices throwing cards until her hands cramp up. She’s been underground all day, and only a power block has saved her phone from dying. She’s discarded everything from her heist as Komadori from her bag, and its contents are much more bearable now. 

When she finally does move aboveground, it’s five hours before she has to be in Lavender Town. Moon takes the back way, traversing through routes 11 and 12, and reads news articles of last night on her phone along the way.

None of them mention the ransom note. Not that she expected as much. The gems were valuable, but they weren’t worth money that could be put to better use elsewhere.

At least. That was what they wanted the public to think. Moon knew, these protectors her father wrote of, whoever they were, would risk anything to get one of the nine gems back.

She stands on the teetering docks of route 12, abandoned for the night, and raises Rose Thorns up to the uncovered moonlight.

Nothing.

Moon sighs. “Worth a shot.” Well, mom had mentioned Rose Thorns wasn’t Pandora. That wasn’t her real goal, anyway. That part was coming up.

Lavender Town is quiet, this late at night, but its two towers are still lit up. Moon moves toward the one on the left, the radio tower, and inconspicuously releases Oricorio from her pokeball. She appears in a blur of purple and disappears in the next moment, and Moon curtly nods before the pokeball is back up her sleeve, hidden from view.

It takes exactly forty-five seconds to swipe an employee badge and she owns it immediately, her charisma alone gaining her access all the way to the third floor. She slips into an empty hallway once she’s made it there, over to a window facing the pokemon tower, and settles down in the corner, removing a scope from her bag.

She watches as a man in black sets the 80,000 poke she had requested on the third floor of the pokemon tower, and leaves as quickly as they had come. She waits twenty minutes, twenty-five, half an hour, because she’s not _stupid_. She knows they’re watching.

But, in the ghost-infested pokemon tower, what’s another ghost-type slipping through the floor and swiping the money, vanishing it into thin air just like her physical form, and leaving Rose Thorns in its place?

Moon doesn’t waste time watching after that. She descends the radio tower and inches out the back, strolling casually until she reaches the entrance to route 8. 

Oricorio is waiting for her down in the underground tunnel that connected route 8 to the outskirts of Celadon. Moon scans for cameras and after finding nothing but a grimy, old tunnel, pulls her pokemon close and hugs her tight and thanks her and returns her and slips open the bag to investigate the contents.

She’d been right on the money. Literally. Whoever was safeguarding the gems was eager for their return. Moon couldn’t find anything wrong with what she had acquired, and she highly doubted she ever would.

She stuffs it into the bottom of her bag and opens the money envelope containing her gym battle earnings to slip that in as well, crumpling the paper after and discarding it into a front pouch.

Then she makes her way through the tunnel, back to where home is.

-

Lillie’s face is comically stunned when Moon presents her with the money. “N-Ninety thousand poke?”

“A little over,” Moon admits. “We definitely don’t need this much to pay rent, and I’m completely fine with you taking it for the conservation project.”

Lillie blinks, and then her eyes narrow, slightly. “How did you earn this much from a gym battle?” she mutters. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Moon shrugs. “Things must’ve changed since you were in Kanto.” She presses forward, nodding to the poke. “Take the money, Lillie. Start back up again. This is enough to at least start, right?”

“Yeah,” she mumbles. “I-I’ve gotta call my team.”

She stumbles from the room and Moon pretends she didn’t see the tear tracks running down her face. Instead she moves to take a shower, scrubbing away all the dirt and sweat of two days of thrill and hard work, and lets herself have a moment of peace, satisfied.

The next day, the pokemon conservation site run by Aether Foundation’s Kanto branch begins assembly once more.

-

Moon takes a break from tossing cards one day and grabs her bow from its sheath, finally intending to make use of the permission that she’d been granted.

The archery field on the edge of the Celadon gym is empty. It’s an elaborate gym, she muses, eyeing the tall structure. The archery field is not. It’s well-kept, but it’s worn. It’s bigger than what she’s used to, but could only house five people. 

She turns her back to the gym and steps on to the field proper.

Moon has twenty-seven arrows in her quiver. She used to have thirty, but she’s down three due to certain instances over the years.

Whereas her father’s arrows had little nocks in them, space to tie a string or wrap a cord or hook something _extra_ for an added effect, Moon’s are different. They were, first and foremost, meant to launch pokeballs and a variety of items.

She had practiced her precision over the years with a bow. Could Moon pitch a pokeball? No. Could she knock one over with even more speed capable in the human arm? Absolutely.

But while that’s all good for pokemon battles and the like, these were regular targets, and she found herself needing regular practice. So she divides her arrows in half and collects the ones with a standard arrowhead to load, and then turns sharply to face the first target.

Moon does a set of warm-ups. She crouches low and balances high on her toes. She aims for the edges of the target and works her way to the center. She aims for the adjacent target, and then the one to her far left, two spaces away, and then again with the two to her right. She collects her arrows and moves to a target on the end and takes turns knocking arrows back into the target on the other end of the field, working her way to the one in front of her.

She does drills until her arms ache in protest. She pushes herself and does them until the sun is setting, until she can’t even pick up a water bottle and drink from it, so exhausted that she’s resorted to lying on the trampled field, panting on her back.

Footsteps moving through the grass have her head turning. Her eyes land on flat sandals, and move up the length of an embroidered red hakama until she reaches gym leader Erika’s face.

Erika moves to clasp her hands in front of her obi. “You must be Mizuki.”

“Moon,” she corrects, sitting up. Her fingers itch for her bow, lying a few feet away. Her quiver is empty, but she feels a desperate urge to have a weapon in her hands.

Erika smiles and nods. “Moon, then. I’m Erika. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope you don’t mind my observing for a bit. You were mesmerizing to watch.”

The knowledge that she’d been here without Moon knowing sent a shiver down her spine that she works to repress. “Thank you,” she manages, and just barely reaches out to grasp Erika’s hand, accepting the help up.

“I really shouldn’t stay long, I’m much too busy, but you can use the archery field whenever you would like,” Erika tells her. Moon blinks and tries not to think too much into it but it’s _hard_ when she _knows_ all the little reasons Erika keeps herself occupied have more to do with her family. Moon can’t wait to wipe the floor with her in a gym battle, and then steal the Emerald Topaz at the Celadon grand Hotel right out rom under her. See how she scrambles when a symbol of her family’s wealth is on the line-

“Next time, maybe we can practice together,” Erika says, releasing her hand and breaking Moon from her internal tirades. Moon nods, again resisting the urge to go and retrieve her bow, knowing it would mean exposing her back.

“If you’re planning on a competition, I’m afraid I’m not much of a pushover.”

Erika’s calm upturn of lips turns into something a little more serious. “I’m a force to be reckoned with myself. Have a good day, Moon. It was nice meeting you.”

She waits until Erika is across the field and nearly off the property before picking her bow up from the ground, holding it tight, and gathering all twenty-seven of her arrows with her other hand.

Maybe she should just go back to card flicking.

-

_“Komadori’s calling card states the phantom thief will be paying a visit to Cerulean’s marine aquatic centre three days from now. The prize this time is the Tear of Princes, a stunning piece of larimar on display-”_

Lillie mutes the TV and turns to face Moon. “How long will you be gone?” she asks, more patient this time.

Moon holds up her fingers. “Four days.”

Lillie hus, moves closer to peck Moon on the cheek. “Good luck. You should visit Bill for me, if you make it up to route 25.”

Moon feels her head spin, but manages to hold it together. “I’ll try,” she promises. 

“Also, don’t forget to thank your mother for the care package she sent us.”

Moon perks at this. “Is that who it came from?”

Lillie deadpans. “Yes. She said she was worried, so I assumed you told her about the money issue for the project.”

“Oh, did I? Maybe in passing . .” Moon moves a hand through her hair, turning her eyes away. She didn’t, actually, but her mother was smart, so she inferred from what Moon had given her. “Don’t worry, I’ll call.” Something told her her mother would appreciate an update after their last conversation.

“I’ll see you in four days,” Lillie says, ducking out the door the next movement, heading to the construction site north of Celadon.

Moon swings her bag over her shoulders and wishes herself a bit of luck as well.

-

Decidueye takes out Misty’s Starmie, but the damage sustained by thunderbolt means it’s Raichu that finishes off Golduck. A well-placed crunch by Misty’s final pokemon, a Gyarados, has Moon switching in oricorio, already equipped with yellow nectar and raring to go.

Moon watches carefully as Oricorio spins around Gyarados’ iron tail, the agility from earlier finally kicking in. Just one attack. That was all she needed. Gyarados was water and flying typed, so one well-timed attack would finish it.

“Use dragon breath!” Misty calls, and Moon snarls in panic as her pokemon is hit. She throws a hand out, not willing to let it faze her.

“Ori, mirror move!”

Oricorio spins through the air, still dealing with the damage caused by the attack. She corrects her aim, though, so that she’s facing Gyarados when the move activates, and sends the same attack careening right back.

Unfortunately, Gyarados is only a pseudo-dragon, and the return doesn’t do as much damage as she’d have liked. Gyarados rears its head back and Moon thinks quickly, just as Oricorio stabilizes midair.

“Ori, use hurricane!” Moon shouts, putting all her emotion into it. Oricorio follows through, flapping her wings ith vigor and kicking up a fierce whirlwind. Gyarados, already off-balance from the earlier attack, is thrown into the air, stuck inside the twister. But her opponent is a seasoned gym leader, and across from her, Misty is still calm and collected, even after her pokemon is lifted.

“Let’s try waterfall!” Misty calls, and Moon sucks in a breath as a massive column of water appears and begins to fall over Oricorio.

But this was her chance. While Gyarados was in the air, contained, this was her only shot.

“Revelation dance!” Moon calls, cupping her hands over her mouth to be heard over the roaring of the wind and the water. Oricorio’s eyes gleam, and she lowers her wings to halt the hurricane, then lifts them high just as the waterfall attack crashes down-

And splits down the middle, parted from the energy of the electricity cracking from her pokemon’s form. It spirals up, continuing until it slams into Gyarados, guided by Oricorio’s relentless cheer, and the roar the water-type lets loose has Moon holding her ears.

Gyarados crashes into the water, knocked unconscious, and Moon grabs Oricorio from the air, spinning them around before the dancing pokemon could careen into her from excitement.

“What an amazing battle,” Misty tells her, after the fact, both stood off to the side of the battlefield. Moon takes the offered towel and wraps it around her shoulders. She’s soaked but she’s still smiling as she accepts the Cascade badge.

She carefully pockets the 15,000 poke in gym earnings and goes back to admiring the pretty blue, holding it close so Oricorio could see as well.

“It is pretty, huh?” Misty crosses her arms. “It’s beauty doesn’t compare to the Tear of Princes, though.”

Moon glances up, carefully holding the smile on her face. “The one on display at the marine centre?” she casually mentions.

“Yep, that’s the one!” Misty snaps and nods. “Have you seen it yet? You just arrived in the city, right?”

“I haven’t.” Moon pauses. “And I have. To the second part.”

Misty claps her hands on her shoulders and Moon suddenly finds her far too close. “Well then, as another gift for your victory, allow me to show you! The aquatic centre is just down the road! Plus-” Misty releases Moon, swooning. “The expression of people who first see it is absolutely priceless.”

“S-Sure,” Moon stammers, only slightly caught off-guard. 

“Great!” Misty beams. You’re staying at the poke center, right? I’ll let you get dried off, but meet me out front in an hour!”

Back in her room, Moon stuffs the money at the bottom of her bag and her new badge in the case she’d recently acquired. She looks to her two Kanto gym badges, smiling fondly, before snapping the case shut and setting it aside.

Once she’s in new clothes, Moon takes Raichu and Decidueye’s pokeballs and meets Misty in front of the pokemon center. The gym leader looks different out of her battle outfit, Moon acknowledges, letting herself be pulled along. 

“There’s an aquarium inside the aquatic centre,” Misty tells her, answering a former question of hers. “It’s basically the big hub of Cerulean. Though, if I wanna go swimming, I just do it at the gym.” Misty snickers at her own words and pulls Moon through the double-doors.

The streets of Cerulean are lined with stone, so it’s a bit of an adjustment to the all-concrete flooring of the aquatic centre. It’s a lot darker inside than Moon suspected, but it turns out that’s just the foyer. The place is huge, so she lets Misty pull her along, guiding her through twists and turns until the massive skylights above disappear into more subtle lighting, and the concrete turns into carpet underfoot.

The larimar on display is three inches in diameter. It’s opaque, but the patterns it contains look like cascading waves, its beauty more than making up for the fact that it didn’t glimmer quite the same as other gems. Moon moves close and drops her jaw, just resisting the urge to press her fingers to the glass. Beside her, Misty stands with her hands on her hips, grinning.

“Told you you’d love it!” Misty says, and Moon nods.

A gasp has Moon glancing back, and she moves aside so a few kids can take her place, gazing up at the gemstone in wonder. She moves back beside Misty, who’s watching the kids fondly.

“Everyone here loves Tear of Princes,” she murmurs, and Moon inclines her head to hear more clearly. “So no matter what, I will protect it. I don’t care who comes after it. It doesn’t matter if they’re a legendary thief.” Her hands tighten into fists. “This gem belongs to everyone.”

Moon turns her eyes away, and takes a risk. “Doesn’t Komadori return everything they steal, though?”

Misty laughs and Moon glances back. Her eyes are glimmering in amusement.

“Well, it’s also a matter of pride. I can’t have anyone snatching something from right underneath the Cerulean gym leader.”

-

“Sorry to disappoint,” Moon mutters under her breath, situated comfortably in the high rafters above the display cases. She’d descended from the ceiling a little bit ago, unconcerned with the prospect of all the guards looking _up_. Good for her, because if they did, she’d be spotted pretty easily. Komadori wasn’t a usual thief. If they were, Moon would be dressed all in black, and she wouldn’t have bothered to announce she was stealing the gem.

She set the time a little earlier. In the evening. The aquatic centre was big, and even with this particular area blocked off, she knew there were teems of people gathered outside, eager to catch a glimpse of the phantom thief who had made headlines recently.

It was a challenge to herself, too. Pewter had been a trial, and she found herself lacking. The performance element was too dull. Not that she had to move slower, but . .

Having a big crowd would help. Right?

“Two minutes! Keep sharp!” Misty calls from down below, glancing from her watch to those around her. Moon watches the same man in a trenchcoat from Pewter approach her for a few words. Head of police, she’d discovered. She wondered if he’d turn out to be a problem.

Her gaze wanders to the gemstone display, tracking the path out where huge glass panes formed a wall that circled the southern part of the room. Moon can see the shadows cast by the setting sun out of it. There would be just a sliver of light left when she moved.

She has Decidueye’s pokeball on her person, ready to be released at a moment’s notice. There are two wires set up, and as she tugs on the one wrapped to her waist, she muses on the thought that she’ll have to break a window, this time.

Moon stands from her crouch and situates one hand on the metal, peering down once again to eye the formation. No one was moving around anymore. And no one was facing the case, either, awaiting an intruder from another direction.

Moon grabs the wire in one gloved hand and glides down seamlessly, landing with a light tap against the glass case. An alarm triggers as soon as she does, red lights blaring out across the room. Everyone’s gaze moves until it’s on her. Misty is seething. The police chief is dumbfounded.

“A little late for a warning,” Moon says, nodding to the alarms. “At least you’re being proactive. It’s more than I can say for Pewter’s gym leader.”

“Komadori!” Misty snarls. “What do you want with the Tear of Princes?”

Behind her, several officers draw their guns. Moon takes it in stride, grabbing the edge of her cloak and curving it around her front as she dips into a bow. “Gym leader Misty. It’s nice to be acquainted. What can I say? It’s just so . . dazzling.”

She drops her hold on the cape just as one of the officers works up the nerve to point his gun at her. _The audacity_ , she thinks, and lashes out with her arm, throwing the playing card in her grip as hard as she can. Not nearly with as much force as she would’ve liked, but it hits the gun barrel just as it goes off, shifting the aim downwards, and Moon moves her feet so it shatters the glass instead.

Then she calmly bends down and takes the gemstone in her hand, easy lickings without the troublesome case in the way. “Thank you!” she says, straightening out, a cheeky smile playing on her face. “You’re doing my work for me!”

The officer who fired blanches, and Misty turns to him with a glare. “Don’t shoot!” she snaps. “What if you hit the gem?!”

“What gem?” Moon says, folding her left hand and twisting it so her palm is revealed again, empty. 

Misty turns back to her, stomping her foot. She pulls out a pokeball. “You’re not getting away with this!”

“Oh, right.” Moon draws another card, again cursing her luck that her dad’s automatic card gun had been busted when she found it, because throwing these things manually was so much extra _work_.

She spins it in her grip and it warps into a mass of blue powder, and Moon unclips the gas mask at her waist just as Misty’s expression changes, catching on to what the substance was.

“I’ve already gotten away with it,” Moon says, and then she blows out the powder and pops on the mask and uses the wire to pull herself back, landing a safe distance away from the gathered blue cloud that knocks out everyone in its vicinity. She takes a running jump and pulls left and glides through the air, and then snips the wire right as she reaches the glass, turning so her feet hit first, kicking a hole right through and raining shards down onto the crowd below, who roar when they catch sight of her.

Moon follows the gleam of the second wire and grips it tight with both hands, letting the momentum pull her the rest of the way out the building, and then flipping in the air to land precariously on a high pole in the lot. 

She flares her cloak out with one hand and clicks a pokeball open behind it with another. She takes a bow for the crowd, and when her cape lowers wings take its place, spreading out wide. 

She has Decidueye fly them up to the roof of the marine aquatic centre, too high up to be observed, and located just behind them.

The ground is slick from rain earlier in the day. Moon sidesteps and lets Decidueye detach from her to hold her steady. 

“Thanks, Deci,” she mutters, moving to the middle. If there were any reinforcements, it wouldn’t be long until they made their way up here. Plus, the sleep powder she’d used downstairs wasn’t potent for very long. If was possible some were already beginning to wake up. She had to move fast.

Moon takes the Tear of Princes from her person and holds it up to the moonlight, her lips downturning as all it does is block the view. “Not this one either, huh?”

Well. That was fine. She pockets the gem again and pulls out a piece of paper in its stead. Before she can do anything with it, Decidueye whirls around, and Moon panics, moving in that direction just as her pokemon is blasted with a shadow ball attack.

“Deci!” she calls, one arm reaching out before she turns the rest of the way, spotting the Vaporeon slinking out from a deeper puddle on the roof.

Moon hisses and then shouting reaches her coming from the stairwell on the far side of the roof. _Of course_ she had another pokemon. She honestly didn’t give Misty enough credit.

“We don’t have time for this,” she calls, thinking back to her long battle earlier in the week. “Deci, use spirit shackle!”

Before Vaporeon can counter with something that would hurt, Decidueye springs up and fires an arrow, pinning the pokemon in place. “Leaf storm!” Moon commands, and the attack hits with enough force to knock Vaporeon out cold. Moon runs forward and settles the note on the pokemon’s scales, then moves until she’s at the railing on the western side, throwing herself over the edge just as the stairwell door bursts open.

Moon tugs her hood low and freefalls, catching the attention to those gathered on this side, steadily increasing. Moon counts down, two, one, and then claws are digging into her back and she spins several meters up from the ground until Decidueye unfurls his wings and carries her away, east, over the crowd and over the city and over route 5.

She huffs and slips into the abandoned underground path and traverses it down south until she’s pulled off all her attire as Komadori. When she exits onto route 6 she’s Moon again, but she doesn’t stop glancing over her shoulder, even as Decidueye flies them over the wilds between routes 6 and 11, until they’re safely inside Diglett’s Cave.

Moon collapses inside the room and tosses her bag down and pumps her fist into the air in a silent scream of victory.

She waits til morning to return to Celadon.

-

“One hundred twenty thousand in gym earnings?” Lillie asks, her voice faint. Moon nods and pushes the money closer. 

“I told you we would make this work.” She grins as she nabs a few from the stack. “Give me five and I’ll go get groceries. You can use the rest however you want.”

“I could order parts with this,” Lillie mumbles, and then she freezes, realizing she said that aloud. Moon turns back and watches as her face flushes.

Then she grins again, throwing her arms behind her head. “Really? I’m glad!”

“Where are you going?” Lillie asks her, recovering from before.

“Market.” Moon pauses at the door. “I might go sightseeing first.”

“Don’t spend all the money at the Game Corner!” Lillie calls after her.

“Didn’t say I was going there.”

“But you implied it!”

“Maybe you’re reading into it too much.”

“You know I’m not!”

Moon leaves and pokes her head back in the door before it can shut. “Hey. I love you.”

Lillie throws a book at the door and Moon laughs, closing it before she could be hit.

-

The Star of Vermillion stood thirty feet above Moon’s head, and ten feet below the gym’s rooftop.

It forms the center of the thunder badge symbol, gleaming in the sunlight, and Moon thinks, not for the first time, that this heist was going to be difficult.

A citrine topaz the size of her palm. Guarded by Vermillion’s very own mad dog, Lt. Surge. Moon had been told as a child that he’d been an army pilot, once. That he had a screw loose. That he fought battles like his life depended on victory, and only allowed challengers after they cleared all the traps laid out in the gym.

Moon gulps and lowers her gaze back to the gym entrance. Her hand tightens around Lycanroc’s pokeball.

First she had to win this gym battle. Then she could worry about the rest.

Moon keeps quick on her feet and sharp in her mind, and soon the voltage blocking her from Surge is disabled. Moon climbs through the newly-made opening, drops to the other side, and turns to see a large battlefield laid out before her.

The ground is dirt. Standard. Set up so challengers who wished to dig holes could do so. Though, from her research Moon knew he had at least one pokemon that could hover in the air. And the rest were too quick for it to matter.

Well. She glances down to her pokeball. Hopefully speed wouldn’t be much of a problem.

Lt. Surge’s eye twitches as he welcomes her and accepts her challenge. Moon keeps on her toes. He sends out a Jolteon and she sends out Lycanroc.

Surge was a power forward. An offensive battler. He trained his pokemon with the strongest attacks and relied on brute force to push a victory. Moon would have to come up with something to outsmart this tactic, while simultaneously avoiding everything he threw at her.

Easier said than done.

“Quick attack!” Surge shouts, and Moon sucks in a breath, not expecting to reveal her hand so soon. 

“Quick guard,” she tells Lycanroc, trusting him to react fast enough. He does, activating the move, and a second later Jolteon slams into an invisible barrier, the attack disabled. It growls in frustration and scampers back, haunches raised.

Surge crosses his arms, but he doesn’t look threatened. That’s fine. She’s not going down without a fight.

 _Speed with speed_ , Moon thinks. “Accelerock!” she commands, and Lycanroc forms the attack and sends it slamming into Jolteon before it has much time to dodge. 

It’s not so easy to hit Jolteon again. The pokemon zips across the field, seeming to grow faster and faster, though it hadn’t used agility at all since coming into the battle. Moon grits her teeth in frustration and tries another approach. A scare tactic. “Lycanroc, use stealth rock!”

But it’s hard to intimidate this gym leader.

An array of floating stones hover over the battlefield. Jolteon glances at them before quickly realizing they were in no danger, and moves to fire a shadow ball that slams into Lycanroc, knocking him off-kilter. 

“You’ve done well so far,” Surge shout to her across the field. “But my blood isn’t boiling yet.” He holds out a hand. “Shock wave!”

Moon’s ire at the backhanded compliment quickly turns into fear, and she opens her mouth to tell Lycanroc to dodge only for nothing to come out, because she knows this attack is unavoidable. The electricity surrounding Jolteon crackles, and then it shoots off, and her pokemon howls as he’s hit, and Moon’s mouth falls open again. “Lyc!” she calls, panicked.

“Use thunder!” Surge booms, and Jolteon immediately moves to a crouch, gathering stored electricity.

Moon has to do it now. _Now._ “Drill run!” she screams, and Lycanroc works to shake off the paralysis just in time to dodge to the side of the massive lightning bolt that leaves a path in the dirt. He rotates his body and propels himself forward and Jolteon is still recharging from the thunder attack, so there’s no avoiding it when Lycanroc collides into the electric-type.

Out of Moon’s three pokemon, only one knows a ground-type move. She feels like she’s just shown her whole hand, and _still_ , Jolteon isn’t falling.

“Stone edge!” Moon screams, while Lycanroc is behind Jolteon, and her pokemon howls, and the ground trembles below their feet, sharpening into stones below Jolteon that raise quickly into the air, pelting it, and when the dust settles and everyone has regained their footing, Lycanroc is panting but he is the victor, Jolteon unconscious at his feet.

Lt. Surge returns Jolteon. “This should be interesting,” he mentions.

Moon returns Lycanroc. “Thank you,” she whispers, face close to the pokeball. Lycanroc was too tired to deal with the speed of Surge’s team, but he was not out just yet.

“Let’s see how you deal with this,” Surge says, and then he sends out his next pokemon: a Magneton.

“Raich,” Moon calls, releasing her own teammate that can hover above the ground. She had a plan for Deci, and it didn’t involve this one. Her opponent needed to be making contact with the field.

Before they can start proper, all the floating stones point towards Magneton and crash into its steel body with tremendous force. They return to hovering after, but the damage has been dealt.

“That’s not like the Raichu I know,” Surge says. Moon purses her lips but she has to say something, she can’t _not_ say something, she can worry about whatever happens after the gym battle _after_ the gym battle.

“It’s an Alolan Raichu,” she answers. And then she begin her assault.

She waits and observes before trying her hand, seeing how everything played out. After Raichu is hit with another tri attack, she changes her tactics. “Speed swap,” she calls, and Raichu nods, lifting its paws.

The air around him and around Magneton glows and rapidly fades. Moon grins as it does, sure they had the upper hand now. Magneton fires off a hyper beam and Raichu is now fast enough to use psychic to redirect it, curving it to the side and then up and the back at Magneton.

This was the problem with teaching a single pokemon only ranged attacks. Especially if your opponent can redirect them. Moon stands back and watches Raichu halt the progression of a thunder attack and send it to the ground instead. He fires back with a thunderbolt, and this one hits, because despite thunder being the more powerful choice, thunderbolt is quicker to produce and easier to aim.

Magneton goes down and Moon returns Raich after seeing just how tired he was.

“Alright, kid, call me impressed,” Surge says, brandishing his final pokeball. “You’ve got some skill.”

Moon holds Deci’s pokeball close and nods in reply to his words.

He releases his final pokemon, a Raichu, and her plan begins when the stealth rock once again move to slam into it.

“Up!” she calls, and Decidueye ascends as Raichu appears through the dust, the attack doing little if no damage, and lashing out with an iron tail in the space her pokemon once occupied. Surge _tsks_ in frustration and tries another approach. 

Moon is thankful quick guard is still activated, the quick attack bouncing harmlessly off of Decidueye, because she’s not too eager for Surge to know he’s a ghost type. Raichu lands hard on the ground and Moon takes her chance.

“Spirit shackle!” she says, and Decidueye turns in the air to aim, using his wing and firing an arrow that pins Raichu in place by its shadow before it can dodge. The razor leaf that follows is unavoidable, and Raichu cries out as it becomes a direct hit.

It lashes out and breaks the phantom arrow with its tail, dissolving it into mist, and runs forward with its first glowing in a thunder punch. It may be fast, but Decidueye is more mobile with wings, twisting around to dodge easily as Raichu jumps up, fist swinging.

“Deci, use leaf storm!” Moon sings, raising her arms. Raichu, still in midair, gasps as its surrounded and barraged by leaves. The attack sends it hurtling to the far wall, and it lands on the ground roughly. To Moon’s utter dismay, it climbs to all fours quickly and runs back to the edge of the battlefield, tail glowing. 

Decidueye, still recovering from the big attack, has no time to maneuver around the iron tail. He crashes into the dirt and is hit with Raichu’s charge beam immediately. Moon’s eyes widen and she can’t think fast enough before Raichu hammers in a thunder punch that sends Decidueye into the ceiling. He barely has enough energy to flap in the air where he dislodges, breathing heavy and feathers ruffled.

Moon takes a chance, knowing the cornerstone to her plan was still yet to be unveiled. “Deci, use brave bird!” she commands. 

“Raichu, him ‘em with another thunder punch!” Surge calls, and Raichu responds with vigor, raising to two feet and gathering electricity to its fist.

Decidueye takes another moment to hover and flap and gain his breath, and then he dives straight down, wings tucked to his form. He’s barely three feet from the ground when he when he swivels sharply, path now horizontal, and the air around him glows blue from the strain. Raichu rears back its fist and Deci ducks his head and the two attacks collide.

When the dust settles her pokemon is out cold, the recoil damage finishing him off. Moon returns him as Raichu takes a breather, whispering comforting words, and then pulls out another pokeball.

Across the field, Surge is laughing, arms crossed. “Now this is what I’m talking about! Not as easy as you thought it was gonna be, huh?”

 _I was never underestimating you_ , Moon thinks, releasing Lycanroc. Raichu cries out in response to its trainer and raises its fist, beckoning to Lycanroc.

Lycanroc’s accelerock fires before Raichu’s charge beam, but the electric-type still dodges to the side before it can hit. They charge forward, drill run versus iron tail, and Moon holds her breath, painting a concerned expression onto her face.

Lycanroc trips, down the path in the dirt made by Jolteon’s thunder. He slips, paws pulling forward to catch himself and body stopping the twisting momentum necessary for the attack. Raichu grins and lashes out, raised tail coming down.

Moon grins, too, her false worry melting away. Surge catches it from across the field and freezes, and then realizes.

“Raichu, pull back-” he calls, but it’s too late, the ground underneath already vibrating, and before iron tail can land home a stone edge launches upward, slamming into Raichu, originating from where Lycanroc’s front paws lay extended on the floor.

Raichu tumbles back with a cry, caught off-guard. “ _Now_ use drill run!” Moon shouts as Lycanroc leaps to his feet, and the attack comes too fast for Raichu to recover.

Moon is left the victor of the battle.

She releases a shout of joy, unable to contain it, and runs forward, Lycanroc meeting her halfway. She kneels on the dirt and her pokemon sags into her arms, worn but proud. “You did so good,” she says, tears in her eyes and smile so wide it pulls on her cheeks. “So good!”

Lt. Surge presents her with the thunder badge and 18,000 poke. Moon’s eyes widen as she accepts it. Surge’s narrow, and he scratches at his head.

“You remind me of someone,” he says.

Moon glances up. “Is it Junaia?” She knew her mother had been into pokemon battling, once. And she’d lived here for a long time. Longer than Moon or her father.

Surge shakes his head. “No, someone else,” he tells her, and Moon clams up, unwilling to give him any more help.

“Ah, it’s not important.” He claps a hand on her shoulder. “Great battle! Enjoy your time in the city. If you’ll excuse me, I have to prepare to deal with this Komadori nonsense.”

Moon leaves as quietly as she had come. She’s not looking forward to her return.

-

The police chief who’s yet to prove himself makes another appearance, but parts from Lt. Surge quickly, making his way inside the gym. It’s packed tonight, filled with extra security as Kanto begins to take the return of Komadori more seriously. In comparison, the outside only had one guard: Surge himself, positioned below where the Star of Vermillion sat. he had an Electrode beside him, a pokemon Moon had yet to see and thus had minimal data on. Considering the pattern she knew from the gym battle, this one probably had all long-range attacks. She doubted it was close-range, considering the situation. Surge wasn’t stupid.

If she were playing smart, she’d position herself right behind the gem and have Decidueye reach through the wall to grab it. Unfortunately, Komadori wasn’t sneaky, only clever enough to get by until a guise wasn’t necessary. That’s what led her to the gym’s back, the furthest away from Surge.

She’d thought about disguising as a gym trainer, the only others aside from officers that stood inside to guard the gym, but they all had a pokemon out, and she didn’t have any matching to keep up the ruse. So, instead, she nods back to Decidueye, and breathes deep to calm her nerves as he grasps her shoulders and pulls them both through the wall.

They materialize just on the other side, and Moon smirks at her luck, landing just before an officer. He looks over, shocked at her sudden appearance, but she grabs him before he can make a noise, having Decidueye pull her right back out of the building. Before her captive can start shouting, Moon cups her gloved hand over his mouth, making sure her hood is low and her head ducked as she steps closer to fan a playing card under his nose with her other hand. She’s sprinkled it in sleep powder beforehand, and it does the trick, the officer’s eyes drooping and body going slack almost immediately. Moon casts aside the card and make swift work in pulling off the essentials of the officer’s uniform, thankful they were near the same body type. She tugs it on over her own outfit and has Decidueye help in hauling the body over to the bushes.

The gym is by the ocean. If Moon strains her ears, she can hear the waves crashing against the concrete barriers to her right. It circles the gym in all directions except the one she was currently at. She knows she can use this, theoretically, but knows it would also be so much faster to fly directly to route 11. Assuming she’s not pursued. 

Decidueye makes a noise and she glances back. “Oh.” Right, she should probably tie him up.

Getting back into the building is easy, and once on the other side, she deposits Decidueye back into his pokeball. After minimizing it, she slips it up her sleeve, adjusts her hat, and moves forward.

Her feet carry her upward, through the path she had memorized the other night, lamp burning low in her small room at the pokemon center. She only nods as she passes an officer, and they nod back. So far no one has asked her to speak. She knew she couldn’t hold out on that luck for long, though.

Moon reaches the panel she needs and wastes no time in prying the cover loose. The handle is weighted to protect from accidental shifting, so it takes both hands to slam it down. Now in the dark, she situates a small bolt in the paneling, keeping someone from prying the handle back up. Then she sprints up to the fourth floor as panic breaks out, casting aside her borrowed clothes in the conceal of darkness and pulling her hood low over her face.

She makes it to the fourth floor railing overlooking the battlefield just as the emergency generator switches on. Lucky for her -again, and she tries not to think about how that luck must be running out- the overhead lights take a bit to gain full power. She removes her bow from her back and uses two arrows to shoot out the lights down the path she wants, then takes a third and fires at the opposite railing. The rope tied to it extends the length, her side tied down to the a higher point, and she swings her bow through it and kicks off from the rail, sliding quickly through the empty space.

Unfortunately, breaking the lights called attention upward, and though the ones directly above were dark, there was enough light around to get a few finger points and panicked shouts directed at her. Moon takes it in stride, resisting the urge to release a hand from her bow to wave down. She swings herself up over the railing upon reaching the other side and collects her arrow, dislodging the rope so that it fell away, no one able to follow her using that particular method.

Then she swings her cape out as she turns and disappears behind a doorway, heading straight for the fifth floor.

There isn’t anyone up this high, so it’s easy to get where she needs to. She moves to the front wall of the gym and slides one of the windows open until she can pull herself through, coming out to high wind and night air and a carved ledge underfoot, just a couple meters above and to the left of where the gemstone sat.

A crackle has her predispositioned to jump, and she crouches on a new ledge, watching the one she’d been occupying smoke after being zapped by a thunderbolt. 

“So you’ve finally arrived!”

Her gaze turns down at the words, looking to Surge, still on the ground, and his Electrode bouncing at his feet. His arms are spread, like he’s welcoming her to his home. The dastardly grin on his face tells a different story. 

She puts an elbow to her knee, still bent up, and leans her cheek against her fist. The ledge she’s landed on is right above the Star of Vermillion. She still had the upper hand here. “Hey, hey, don’t start firing yet. I haven’t even taken the gem!”

“And I intend to make sure you don’t,” Surge replies. “Also, don’t act like you’re not already guilty. I saw the power to my gym got cut. Guessing that was you.”

Her lips curl into a smirk. “You guessed correct.”

Electrode crackles and Moon tenses, but Surge pulls his hand in front of the pokemon. “Stay,” he says, and Electrode immediately stops. His eyes never leave Komadori. “I’m not about hurting out of principle, so I’m giving you a chance to surrender. Turn yourself in.”

Her smirk turns into a mock-frown. “Aw! But I’m just getting started. What’s the fun in quitting now?”

“What’s the point in starting?” Surge counters. “Not like you keep what you steal. You never have.”

Moon shrugs, dropping her hand back to fold over her knee. “Maybe they’re not what I’m looking for,” she says, keeping her words cryptic. Surge’s brows lower in confusion. She holds up her other hand and one, two, three cards fan out in her grip. “Hopefully -well, what’s the saying? ‘Third time’s the charm’, right?” She turns her hand so her palm is facing the gym leader, and a flash bomb takes the place of the cards, disguised in the shape of a rubber ball. “It was nice talking, but I really should be going now.”

Before Surge can react, Moon swings her arm down in an arc and hurls the flash bomb into the gym wall below her. She closes her eyes and reaches for the gem with the same hand, the other clicking open Decidueye’s pokeball.

Below her, Surge startles at the light and braces his arms in front of his face. “Electrode!” he calls, and even as his pokemon shies away from the brightness, its body crackles with the beginning of a thunderbolt, knowing exactly where to aim.

Moon’s fingers touch the surface of the Star of Vermillion at the same time Decidueye fastens his claws onto her back and a jolt runs through her body.

It takes her a moment to realize the scream ringing in her ears is her own. White hot pain fills her core and Decidueye lets go of her in shock, a little frazzled by the attack but otherwise not taking much damage. He’s quick to latch back onto Moon just as she goes limp, and turns them both intangible to move back behind the wall, just like they had practiced. Her hand slips through the jewel, hold on it going slack as she blacks out for a moment.

When her eyes open again she’s in the dark, and she sucks in a deep, gasping breath. Decidueye is crouched over her, wings folded over to keep her hidden, and he resists the urge to coo in distress, knowing they couldn’t afford the added noise. She lies there, letting her body convulse, the aftermath of the shock still running through her. Her arms spasm and the longer she forces herself to stare the more she’s convinced her vision is blurred. So she squeezes them shut and forces herself to take deep, slow breaths.

Outside, Surge drops his arms as the light fades, and blinks up at the empty space. He frowns, knowing he’d heard a scream, that Electrode’s attack had hit _something_. The door to the gym bursts open as he finishes this thought.

“Lt. Surge, sir! Komadori has been spotted in the gym!”

From earlier, he presumes. He glances around, but there’s no sign of the elusive thief. He furrows his brow. Did they somehow slip back inside the gym?

He waves the officer away. “I’m staying here,” he tells them. After all, this was where the gem still was. If Komadori was still around, they would have to come back again.

The officer nods and retreats back into the gym.

Moon waits until she stops shaking to sit up. It’s a lousy attempt, and she slumps against Decidueye in the next moment. She feels fried. Her skin is all prickly. Everything is fuzzy. At least she can see again.

Shit. She knew this would be hard, but she hadn’t expected _that_. “Thanks,” she mumbles against a tuft of feathers. Decidueye’s chest rumbles in acknowledgement, shifting the feathers against Moon’s cheek. “Okay?”

Decidueye hums again. That was good. Despite being a bird pokemon, he wasn’t coded a flying-type. The attack was powerful enough to do damage, but not damaging enough to do real harm. It was thanks to his quick thinking that they were covered, for the moment.

Moon grits her teeth tightly and forces herself to her knees, drawing her hood over her head. She could try again, but it would end the same, and she’d lost her element of surprise. It was time for a new plan.

Decidueye draws back and lets her stand on her own. She reaches out to place one hand against a wall, using it to hold herself up. Then she slowly shakes out her legs and arms, leaning against the wall with her back when she got to shaking that particular arm out. She takes a deep breath and puts her arms over her head, and spreads her legs. She crouches, bending her knees, and reaches out with her hands as far as she can. She goes through a short series of these movements, adjusting her limbs and working through the last of the paralysis. Then, once she’s sure she’s good to get moving again, she beckons Decidueye close and exits into an empty corridor.

Backup plan one: cause enough of a commotion inside the gym that it drew Surge in. She was rolling with it, mentally counting the number of traps she’d set up earlier that she still had left. She adjusts her quiver, hidden by her cloak, and does a count on the arrows. She might have to leave a couple, but as long as she got out, it would be worth the risk.

Moon steps into a hall with a little more lighting coming from the end and unpockets three false Star of Vermillions she’d went through the trouble of procuring. She was a little surprised the backup generator hadn’t switched on all the lights yet. Maybe it didn’t have enough power to do so. Or maybe it was just slow. The gym was pretty big, after all.

“Stay out of sight,” she murmurs to Decidueye, trusting him to heed her words. Right as she gets them out, a shadow passes at the end of the hall, and Moon quickly throws herself into a tight space, holding her breath as the figure passed by in a hurry. It was the trenchcoat-wearing police chief. He was heading in the direction she had come from -towards the windows overlooking the gemstone, she acknowledges.

As soon as he’s gone she picks herself up and makes a break down the hall. She had to hurry.

-

Moon is down one false gem when she reaches the third floor railing overlooking the battlefield, throws one foot onto the top of it, and takes aim with her bow to a small machine she’d set up on the second floor. The noise draws the attention of a cluster of people conveniently gathered near it, and they panic and scramble when they see her aiming at them. Before they can get far, Moon fires and catches the release with her arrow, and a plume of gas erupts from the machine. It spreads easily in the open space, knocking out everyone nearby, as well as people above on the third floor, stopping anyone from pursuing her immediately.

Moon drops her foot and her bow and mourns the loss of an arrow, then turns to sprint down the path. She hears shouts as others wander onto the scene, a couple more succumbing to the knockout gas, if the telltale sound of thumping bodies was anything to go off of.

She drops off another of the fake gems before moving up again, this time in a more noticeable place than the first. It’s not long before she hears reports of the gem being sighted, broken up among several of the officers she ducks past, everything coming through the crackle of their handheld radios. She’s sprinting down one path when hurried footsteps come from ahead, around a corner, and her eyes widen as she realizes she’s going too fast to stop.

“Deci!” Moon hisses, and then she feels the press of wings on her back and the gym trainer that rounds the corner moves straight past her and keeps going, out of sight, and Moon finally slows down just as Decidueye separates from her. “Thanks,” she mutters, finally unpocketing the third and final false gem and holding it in a loose grasp in her palm, making sure it’s noticeable around the glove.

Part two of the plan. She knew reports of her having taken the gem or _having_ the gem would mean nothing if Surge was still out there staring down the real thing. She’d caused enough of a disturbance -it was time to kick things into high gear again.

When she moves back to the fifth floor, it’s no longer empty but it’s still very dark. Moon flies back to the front of the gym, careful to avoid everyone she wanted to, and let the other see the glimmer of the false gem clutched in her hand. A particularly loud shouting follows that encounter, and Moon takes care to stay on her toes, dodging around everyone else milling about on the floor. She breaks back to a stairwell on the east side and shoves the door open, swinging her bow into her grip and firing at the fourth floor landing. The impact causes the door to blow open, and _that_ causes the stairwell alarm to go off, blaring loud and flashing red and leaving her little time to move back to the fifth floor and get far enough away before everyone converged on her perceived location.

When she moves back to the wall just behind the gem, she frees her hands of the bow and nods to Decidueye, who lifts her from the ground and makes them intangible, flying forward. Moon didn’t know if Surge had a radio, but if he did, and he was still out there, then he knew everyone so far regarding the gem was false. She had to take one final step to convince him: stealing the real Star of Vermillion.

Moon’s hand closes around the gemstone and she _yanks_ until it comes loose, popping forward, and then scrambles her arm back into the wall, letting Decidueye pull her out until they were back in the dark corridor. Moon sighs a breath of relief and gets chills as a phantom tingle of pain runs down her arm, the same one holding her prize. In the next moment she’s folding it deep into her clothes and replacing it with the replica. When she breaks past a window, she hears a loud roar that she guesses is Surge roaring in frustration.

She’s not done yet.

Moon moves back out to the fifth floor railing opening into the main room and watches the clusters of people milling about the part of the fourth floor she could see. Going there now wouldn’t be good, but risking using the open space to move to a lower floor was downright _suicide_ with Surge sure to be in the building. That didn’t leave her a lot of options.

Moon kicks in the door of the east stairwell again and is immediately met with shouts of people far too close. She grits her teeth and hikes herself over the railing, dropping down into the middle that the stairs spiraled around. Claws hook around her shoulders and though Moon doesn’t feel her descent slow, she does feel the _jerk_ as Decidueye moves them to the first floor without any people guarding the door: the third. Moon’s feet start to move but he tightens his grip on her and lashes out with his wings and opens it himself, gliding them through. Moon manages to plant her feet a few paces inside, forcing him to stop.

“I got it,” she snaps, and it was an order but it wasn’t filled with any ill-intent. Decidueye releases her and Moon tightens her hand around the fake jewel and begins to run around the third floor, calling attention to herself but keeping one step ahead, losing and gaining and losing her pursuers.

She’s moving to deposit the third gem in a location to make it looked like she “dropped it” in a rush to get out, but before she can, an officer runs into her hall from an adjacent one. She looks up as he catches sight and reaches for a card the same time he does his gun.

“Help me with this,” Moon mutters, and lashes out, throwing the card with all her might as he takes aim. From behind, Decidueye kicks up a wind, spurring the card forth with a force she couldn’t manage alone. It sends the gun flying from the officer’s hands, and his eyes droop as it passes, the sleep powder emanating from it causing him to crash to the ground. Moon’s quicker this time about depositing the gem, adjusting her hood, and making for one of the many windows she knew were on the western side.

She doesn’t encounter anyone else, and she doesn’t bust the window this time, figuring she’d done enough “damage” to the gym as is. She climbs through to sit on the ledge, too narrow to have her and Decidueye go through at once, and lets him hook her in his grasp and push her the rest of the way out. They’re in the air moments later, moving west _fast_ , and Moon grits her teeth and shuts her eyes and risks a glance back.

She _swears_ she sees a figure staring at her from out the window, but she can’t make out the features from this far away. Still, fearing it was Surge, she has Decidueye fly _faster_ , not slowing down until they were through the entrance to the Cave, and not stopping until they were barreling through the false wall to her father’s room, passing through cleanly without disturbing it just to materialize and _crash_ into the far wall.

Moon gasps in panic as they separate, the adrenaline still rushing through her warning her that a cave-in was still _very_ possible and making her not quite catch on to the fact that the wall had _spun_ inward like on a turntable, and then she’s losing her balance and falling to her knees, her arms falling forward to keep her from going down head-first.

Moon breathes and squints as she acknowledges that the space around her was not completely _dark_ like an underground cave should be, and that she could feel the faint flow of air, which was _definitely_ unusual.

And then she realizes the shape she’s been staring at before her eyes is the railing to a _staircase_ and she looks up and catches the moonlight shining through a window deep inside the spacious room, tall but not tall enough to reveal the moon itself. She looks up further and makes out a high ceiling and her eyes widen as she recognizes the space as her family home in Vermillion.

Moon turns just her head around to look behind her and sees a piece of the wall at an angle, and everything clicks into place.

Then she frowns, because she was very cold now, and looks down to find her hands submerged. She was kneeling in water, completely covering the first floor. Well. Guess that explained why no one ever moved in after they left. 

She gets her other senses back and acknowledges that the water _stinks_ and hurriedly picks herself back up, moving to push the door and step back through into the underground room that she suddenly acknowledges wasn’t as underground as she had thought. It was still very well hidden. She hadn’t even noticed, after all this time, that she was moving _up_ as she was moving in.

That also explained all the Diglett holes. They must’ve come down the path leading to her dad’s room, gotten curious, and popped up in the abandoned space around the house as they explored. The sunlight would keep them from moving back if they appeared at that time in the day, and the tide that clearly washed up enough to move _inside the house_ would cause the ground to wet and dampen as it got inside via the dug-up tunnels.

Decidueye looks at her curiously as she moves back through and Moon only tugs off her cape. She sighs as she slinks to the chair, toeing off her dirtied boots and leaning back. She should shower. And do her laundry while no one was due to be awake. Both of these required her going back to Vermillion, to the room she had in the pokemon center, where her bag and supplies were. 

Actually. She couldn’t do laundry if she wasn’t planning on coming back before she made her way to Celadon.

Oh. Except she was, because she still wasn’t done. Moon winces, digging around in her pockets as she pulled everything out and onto the table, relieved to find the ransom note she’d written had indeed made its way out of her hands to settle where she had hidden the first replicated Star of Vermillion.

She glances at it, gleaming very faintly on the corner of the table, and then lets out another sigh. 

Mizuki needed to get back to her borrowed room for the night. She could return here tomorrow, when Komadori retrieved the ransom money, and she could check the gem in the gleam of the moon’s light beforehand when she exited through her old house. Yeah. That sounded like a plan.

Moon sighs and beckons Decidueye forward. She really needed to sleep.

-

Moon presents 130,000 poke to Lillie and the blonde reaches over to wrap her in a hug, ignoring the money in favor of burying her head into the crook of Moon’s neck. It takes a moment for Moon to settle from the action, returning the hug.

“Thank you,” Lillie whispers.

“How is everything going?” Moon inquires.

“We’ve managed to level a clearing without disturbing the wildlife.” Lillie elaborates when she sees Moon’s confusion. “We haven’t torn down anything, but made it so that construction can take place around everything. It’s not going to be four straight walls, and it’ll definitely be more work, but the aim was never to take any of the land away from the pokemon. Only provide a place they can move in and out of, or stay at, if it becomes necessary.”

Moon nods. “Any word on more sponsors?”

Lillie shrugs. “Not yet, but I have a speech I’m giving today.” Her expression downturns. “Sorry I can’t come see your match.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it.” Moon reaches out to poke Lillie’s shoulder. “You go do what you have to. Good luck, okay?”

Lillie carefully twists her lips into a smile. “Yeah. I’ll see you tonight.”

-

Erika starts with her Victreebel, and Moon sends out Minior to do some groundwork before the battle can begin to heat up. She’s merciless, starting with a swords dance and having Victreebel pound Minior with a well-timed poison jab. It doesn’t do much in the face of Minior’s incredible defense, but Moon feels herself wincing anyway as her pokemon is sent flying back.

She has the meteor pokemon fire off an ancient power to maintain the distance and raise all its stats at once. Victreebel shakes it off pretty easily, but Moon’s goal wasn’t to deal damage. Victreebel moves close for another physical attack, still feeling the effects of the earlier swords dance, and Moon has Minior use confuse ray at close range.

It works like a charm, Victreebel lashing out at itself, and Moon takes control of the battle with a psychic that has the poison-type reeling back. Victreebel manages to land another poison jab and Erika is left dumbfounded as Minior refuses to be poisoned yet again. Victreebel screeches in alarm and lashes out with a power whip. Moon has Minior brace itself as the attack ran rampant, Victreebel’s aim impaired by the confusion. Another psychic finishes Erika’s first pokemon just as a wild vine lands, cracking Minior’s shell enough to where it just shakes the excess off, revealing a bright orange core.

“Interesting,” Erika murmurs, retrieving a second pokeball from the folds of her furisode.

Her next pokemon is a Tangela. It starts immediately with a power whip that Minior easily dodges around, trading defense for an incredible speed. Moon has it first use safeguard now that its outer shell was gone, and Erika catches on a moment too late, the sludge bomb rained down on Minior doing damage but no ill effects as the safeguard settles in place.

Moon switches out Minior for Lapras. The battle continues at a steady pace, neither side refusing to break. Lapras had honestly been intended as a last-resort. Moon thought Erika would switch in a Parasect, but with Tangela on the field her final two pokemon were secured. Lapras deals enough damage for Minior to finish Tangela off and lay down another safeguard, and with its low health Moon returns it before Erika could send in her next pokemon.

She’s watching Moon carefully. After a moment she takes out her final two pokeballs and holds them both up in a proposition. “How about a double battle, for the finale?” she offers, and Moon feels a thrill pass through her. It had been a while since she had done one of those.

So she accepts, sending out Decidueye and Oricorio as Erika releases Exeggutor and Vileplume. 

Both her pokemon take flight to stay out of range of any energy-draining attacks, and Moon eyes the Exeggutor warily. Admittedly, she’d long since grown used to the towering height of Alola’s Exeggutor, but she knew the Kantonian ones weren’t to be trifled with, either. She’s not proven wrong as the psychic-type drops its jaw and fires off a hyper beam to start the two-on-two. Both her pokemon barely dodge around it, and she orders Decidueye to restrain Exeggutor with spirit shackle. Pinning a pokemon’s shadow doesn’t mean they can’t fire long-range attacks, though, and despite the typing of her pokemon being to her advantage, Moon takes caution at the forming solar beam. She has Decidueye finish his attack quickly, firing another arrow quill to inflict massive damage, and Exeggutor loses concentration, the solar beam shorting out.

A moonblast attack knocks Decidueye off-kilter in the next moment, and Moon curses, berating herself for being so out of practice with double battles. She draws her attention to Vileplume and counters its next attack with Oricorio’s revelation dance, the fire cutting it off and overpowering it to send Vileplume reeling. 

She has Decidueye dive low in a brave bird, but Exeggutor uses psychic and tosses her pokemon back into the sky. While Decidueye is correcting his course, Vileplume uses petal dance. Oricorio sends a hurricane to knock the attack away from Decidueye, giving him time to straighten out and pin both grass-types in place with well-aimed shots. Erika’s eyes narrow in concentration as she watches the archer pokemon at work.

Oricorio uses mirror move to and sends a wave of psychic energy at Vileplume. While they’re pinned, Decidueye dives low again to use brave bird, but a sludge bomb from Exeggutor has him pulling up at the last moment. The poison move deals its damage and Moon finds herself faltering as Decidueye puts distance between him and their opponents. 

It gives Vileplume enough time to sneak up on Oricorio, and Moon raises her head in alarm at the flying-type’s shout, watching the remainder of the stun spore settle onto the grass below. 

When Exeggutor sees that safeguard had worn off, it wastes no time in firing off a sludge bomb at Oricorio, and Decidueye tries to divert it with razor leaf to cover his teammate. Oricorio is still paralyzed, unable to dodge, and Decidueye is send flying by another moonblast from Vileplume. Moon finds herself cornered, watching Exeggutor begin to form another solar beam. 

She has Decidueye cut Vileplume off and counters the attack with Oricorio’s revelation dance, solar energy slamming into firepower. Oricorio is knelt on the grass afterward, still feeling the effects of paralysis. Another sludge bomb from Vileplume slips past, and the poison takes toll to finish Oricorio off. But this gives Decidueye enough time to knock back another quill, and with Vileplume unable to move he slams into it with brave bird, making the battle one-v-one.

Just as she thinks this, the hyper beam Exeggutor had been prepping is released, slamming straight into Decidueye, who was recovering from the recoil of brave bird. 

Erika grins across from her but Moon quickly regains her calm, refusing to show a similar expression and reveal her hand. “Deci, go!” she calls, and out of the smoke Decidueye ascends, already taking aim with one wind poised, drawing an arrow quill from his feathers. Erika falters at his sudden appearance, questioning why the attack had done no damage. He finishes Exeggutor off with a final spirit shackle, leaving Moon the victor.

Erika is frowning as she steps up, returning her last pokemon. Moon lets her and Decidueye have a quiet moment of victory, then turns to her, just a little wary.

“This one must be part ghost,” she observes, nodding to Decidueye. “It was my mistake, for assuming part flying. That would explain why our final attack didn’t work.”

Moon doesn’t reply, but Erika doesn’t seem to mind. She draws out a rainbow badge from her long sleeves and holds her palm out. “Here. This is yours.”

“Thank you.” Moon takes it and smiles as the badge glimmers in the gym lighting. 

“Here’s a pecha berry for your other pokemon,” Erika offers, and Moon blinks but accepts the berry, putting the badge away in exchange for Oricorio’s pokeball. Moon thanks her and Erika bows low.

“I’m glad I got to battle you, Moon.” She hesitates, just for a moment, in straightening back out. It makes Moon wary. “I have a favor to ask.”

She purses her lips and slides the berry and the pokeball away. “What is it?”

“Your pokemon is also an exceptional archer.” Erika nods toward Decidueye. “And I would very much like to beat a certain phantom thief at their own game. I think it goes without saying that you know their next target is a gem located in my family’s hotel.”

“You want my help,” Moon says, blinking, as it dawns on her. Of course it wouldn’t escape Erika that Komadori was also an archer. But then Erika is shaking her head, a smile seeming misplaced but there it is, slowly forming, and Moon’s brows lower.

“I think you misunderstand. _I’ve_ been tasked with protecting the gem. I want your pokemon’s help.”

Moon blinks, again, but it’s more to contain her anger that out of confusion. “You want to borrow him,” she says, words slow.

Erika nods. “Beating Komadori with archery will be putting them in their place. Nothing would satisfy me more. If-”

“Wait.” Moon glances back up, just realizing. “Thank you, for the battle and the berry. Is that . . all?”

“What do you-” Erika breaks off, frowning. “Oh. Yes, that’s all. I make it a habit to avoid giving out money on principle.” She glances to Decidueye. “However, if you loan him to me, I could convince my family to-”

“I’m not taking the job,” Moon snaps, unable to entertain the idea any longer.

Erika blinks, confused. “Why not? Don’t you want Komadori put away as much as I do?”

Moon shrugs. “It doesn’t concern me. I’m only worried about my gym challenge, which I need Deci to train for, and my girlfriend’s conservation project, which is why I’m here in the first place.”

Erika’s eyes narrow. “Oh, that thing?” She crosses her arms. “Waste of time, if you ask me. I think catching a thief is much more important before damage is done to the city.”

Moon’s blood boils. “You mean to the _hotel_. Komadori has never caused any harm outside of their heist location. The minimal damage is always paid for and repaired almost immediately.”

“I’m just trying to help this city-”

 _You’re just trying to help your_ family _,_ Moon thinks. _Your endless wealth, your priceless topaz that symbolizes all the money you sit on, that you know will return by the end of the week._

“-and if you won’t loan me your pokemon, I believe we are done here.”

 _You just want to show off_.

-

“She could have asked for _my help_ ,” Moon rants, “but _instead_ she offers to take Deci off my hands for a night.”

Lillie frowns, curled up in the chair opposite of Moon. She has her hands resting atop her knees, leaning against her chin. Her hair falls over one shoulder as she tips her head. “And she offered to pay you for it instead of giving you the money you earned from clearing her gym.”

Moon throws her hands up. “Exactly! She didn’t do that with you, did she?”

“Not that I recall.” Lillie’s brow creases. “Perhaps she’s under stress from this upcoming heist, but her methods of coercion are a little underhanded.”

Moon slumps in her seat. “Sorry about the money,” she mumbles.

Lillie immediately jumps up. “Hey, don’t worry about it!” She steps closer and settles next to Moon. “You’ve done more than enough. And this isn’t your fault. _Please_ , don’t let it bother you.”

Moon nods but doesn’t lift her face. Lillie rubs her back and Moon speaks up after a long while. “How did the speech go?”

Lillie’s hand stills. “Oh. That.”

She perks up. “What happened?”

Lillie laughs, just a little. “I thought it went well. But the heist notice has everyone on edge. They’d rather spend money on security for their properties.” She shrugs. “Nothing came of it.”

“That’s bullshit,” Moon snaps. Lillie jumps in surprise and Moon stills. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re right.” Lillie sighs. “It sucks. Honestly, I think it was just a convenient excuse to say no. ‘We would, but we have this to deal with first.’ Sounds about right.”

“What now?”

“I wish I could go to Johto,” Lillie admits, frowning. “But since the project is here, there’s not much point. The magnet train would make getting to Goldenrod easy, and I’m sure they would be more . .” She trails off. 

“What about Saffron?”

“Yeah.” Lillie sits up straighter. “I was holding off, but maybe a bunch of businessmen and corporations who would benefit from having their names all over a project like this will be more willing to sponsor some of the funds than rich old people with too much time on their hands.”

“Let me know when you decide.”

“Yeah.” Lillie nods again. “Thanks.”

-

“I have a meeting,” Lillie admits as they meet at the door later that day, “but where are you going?”

“Lavender.” Moon wilts under Lillie’s gaze. “My, uh . .”

Her eyes widen. “He’s not buried in Vermillion?”

“He was from Lavender.” Moon’s voice is soft. 

“Okay.” Lillie wraps her in a hug. “Call if you need me.”

Moon feels bad for the indirect lie, but it’s not like she wouldn’t be at Lavender eventually. It’s why she made all the exchanges there. 

For now, though, she’s back in Diglett’s Cave, gathering all the supplies she would need for the night. Security had been tight in the hotel after she’d send the calling card, and she hadn’t dared approach it after her gym battle with Erika. As Moon, that is. If she’d slipped in looking like a former gym trainer, no one paid her much mind. She had some . . things planned.

Moon anchors her bow to her back and her father’s quiver to her side. She couldn’t risk Erika connecting back the arrows to her, even if she took some of her special ones, never having shown the gym leader those. Besides, these were technically hers, as was everything else in the room.

The emerald topaz was three fingers in width. Originally, it had been housed inside a statue, situated as a swan’s eyes in the middle of a fountain in the hotel lobby. An elaborate spiral staircase spanned nine floors and curved around the inside of the building. It was purely decorational, attached elevators to either side of the hotel carrying guests to their rooms, but it _did_ get close enough to the open floors that one could jump between the railings, and it _was_ sturdy enough to support the weight of someone moving up and down, even if this was prohibited. 

Hanging from the bottom of the tenth floor was an elaborate chandelier, and directly below it on the first floor was the swan fountain. There was open space between that. The tenth and eleventh floors were closed off, housing more private suites, thus the spiral staircase ended at the ninth. To get access to the floors at all would be to use an elevator, or the one emergency staircase adjacent to them both. The latter option also contained a path to the roof, one Moon intended to use at the very end.

Instead of exiting through her old house, Moon and Decidueye move through the tunnels until they come out at route 2, and then fly back to the western part of Celadon. The sky is slightly overcast, shielding the already-cut half-moon’s light. Police and additional security attempt to make up for it, but their spotlights can only go up so high. Moon had honestly been expecting helicopters to cover the excess, and add to the publicity the hotel was receiving, but the sky was all hers, strange enough.

 _“All the windows are fitted with a titanium alloy wiring that makes breaking through impossible,”_ Erika says, smiling as the news camera pans to her face. _“Even if Komadori cracks the glass, they can’t get past our netting. It was my idea to add it in.”_

 _“Actually, interpol Looker suggested it,”_ someone muttered off to the side. 

_“All the guests have been evacuated for the evening,”_ Erika continues, responding to another question. _“My father has personally provided them with housing in other areas of the city, and handed out vouchers for one night in the Celadon Grand Hotel free of charge._ ” She puts a hand over her heart. _“We do not wish to see anyone get hurt tonight. It is unfortunate that their stay at the hotel has been interrupted by Komadori, and we hope this acts as compensation for their troubles. Though-”_ She paused and straightens out, adjusting the long bow she had brazenly slung over her back. _“-we hope to have this resolved and Komadori finally in custody before the night is over.”_

Moon frowns as she recalls this and the rest of the report she’d watched from her phone on the way over. Erika wasn’t much older than her, yet she was acting like she had some personal vendetta against Komadori. Not only was she not gym leader when her father was active, she was barely more than a little kid. _Maybe she just wants to show off_ , Moon sourly thinks, adjusting her bowtie as the elevator door opens onto the tenth floor.

Though the public story was that all the guests cleared out, the reality was that those housed in the penthouse suites on the top two floors were still there, though under lock and key. There was a back door to one of the elevators that opened to a hallway connecting the kitchen, laundry room, and other behind-the-scenes areas that made the hotel function. Since the emerald topaz was on the first floor, and with no way to reach the tenth and eleventh aside from the elevator, there was no need to worry about their security. And with hotel staff entering and departing from the back, it ensured they weren’t sighted and that the floors could go on functioning without being suspected.

Moon pulls the tray of food to a stop and knocks on the door. The room’s occupant thanks her and wheels the tray of room service the rest of the way inside, thus rendering her job done. She loops around the long way back to the elevator, observing the layout she hadn’t gotten the chance to see until now, and casually glances at her watch as she waits for the elevator to move back up from a lower floor.

There wasn’t reinforced netting on these windows, she notes. Not that she was planning to use them, but perhaps it could serve as a distraction.

The elevator opens and Moon leans in to press the button for the first floor. When the doors slide to a shut, she moves to the stairwell instead, swinging the door open and loosening the bowtie’s knot with her finger.

She discards her disguise as she makes her way to the ninth floor, unbothered at being discovered. There weren’t any cameras here to catch her, and no one was allowed access to the top two floors anyway. Besides hotel staff, that is.

She was actually surprised when she discovered there were no security cameras in the entire building besides one stationed on the front doors. Supposedly it was to protect the security of the guests, but it made the police’s job that much harder, tonight.

“Three minutes,” Moon mutters, propping open the ninth floor’s stairwell door and slipping inside. She’s met with the dim lighting of the hotel’s grand main room, only the first floor and the chandelier that hung from the ceiling being lit. While she has spare time Moon works on the lock to one of the rooms and steps inside, wandering to the far end to glance out the window.

Her view is obstructed by the wire, but she can see enough to tell the sky was obscured, covered by clouds that hid the moon’s light even more than when she had entered. Well, that could only work to her advantage, she supposes.

She turns her eyes down to see the crowd forming across the street from the hotel. The area surrounding the building had been cordoned off, riot police stationed to keep trespassers away. Kanto’s chief of police, a man she had later discovered to be an interpol agent, was inside with a small team and the additional security hired by Erika’s parents, the tycoons who owned the hotel. There were far more people outside than inside, but that could have to do with the fact that Erika herself was on the lower floor, the gym leader counting as several people at once.

Moon wanders back out and adjusts her hood, then silently slips onto the part of the spiral staircase closest to where her feet rested on the floor. It was leveled just a bit on the descension, covering her from view, and with no one to see her on the floor above, Moon has no trouble in slipping off her bow and taking aim at the chandelier above.

It shatters, raining down glass and casting the top floors into darkness. Alarmed shouts ring out from below, and Moon hurries to her feet as she hears someone call for the ninth floor lights to be triggered. She’s quick to run a few paces around the curve, stopping where she knew the attached wire was, and running down it to where it connected to the staircase near the seventh floor. When the lights to the ninth floor come on, Moon is hidden from view once again, glancing down.

There’s commotion down on the first floor, people muttering and shuffling around. Moon takes aim again and targets one of the lights on the ninth floor, careful to exaggerate the trajectory. Though its impact is far less than the chandelier, it doesn’t go unnoticed. There’s a call for the eighth floor lights to be activated as well. Moon stands and slides down the stairs.

“Wait! That shot came from lower. Turn on the seventh floor’s as well!”

She grins as she stops in front of the next wire, Erika’s voice echoing up to her. Once she’s moved down to near the fifth floor, the top three floors are lit. The same stunt, exaggerated shot and all, has her quickly moving to the third floor, sliding down the last of the wires she’d set up beforehand. 

“They’re toying with us!” one of the security guards growls. 

“Yes, but we’ve got them cornered now. Look at the lights.”

 _There you go._ At least they were catching on. With the lights to floors nine through five switched on, Moon on the third floor, and the first floor lit, there was one unlit floor between each, and three in total.

That didn’t give her any room to act, lest she be spotted, but it did keep her hidden for the moment. 

“Everyone, get ready!”

Moon adjusts one of her special arrows into the notch, attaching a smoke bomb to the end. As they caught on and someone finally called for the remaining floors to be lit, she leans over and fired the arrow so it exploded in the center of the first floor. While everyone is left coughing, she runs down the stairs to the second floor to gain momentum and throws herself over the edge, touching down on the swan’s back just as the smoke clears.

It doesn’t take long for someone to notice and point. “Komadori!”

She raises a gloved hand to wave. “Hello!”

Erika is the first to act, lifting her bow, arrow already notched, and leveling it at Moon’s heart. “Surrender!” she calls.

Moon tips her head. “Why? Am I in danger?” Erika seethes and she continues. “Besides, I’ve only just gotten here, and the topaz is right before my eyes.” She bends down to run a hand over it, ghosting across one of the faces before pulling back.

“But, okay, allow me to humor you. Why _shouldn’t_ I take it?”

Erika sputters. “S-Shouldn’t? Because it’s _not yours_.”

“So? It’s not yours, either.”

“I’m the heir to this business!” she shouts. “I’m taking it from my parents one day!”

“I wonder who _they_ took it from.”

Her words are met without rebuke. A murmuring breaks out over the crowd.

“The emerald topaz, also known as Jolly Green,” Komadori says, projecting her voice, reciting from her father’s notes. “It was a rare gem passed down among the Fuji clan, said to offer protection to the wearer. Over thirty years ago, the head of the clan suddenly donated the jewel to the S.S. Anne to mark its first voyage around the world, and the Fuji mansion burned down in Cinnabar just two weeks later.” 

She purses her lips.

 _That_ had been the reason she’d expected to end up at the harbor in Vermillion. She’d never thought the jewel would be at the gym, instead of on one of the cruise ships docked at port. 

“But Jolly Green disappeared from the Anne on its twenty-fifth voyage. It was written off as the work of a thief, and the gem was never recovered. Later that same year, the emerald topaz makes its debut on display in the newly-remodeled Celadon Grand Hotel’s lobby.” Moon reveals a low smirk from underneath her hood. “So, I’ll ask again. Who does this gem belong to?”

This time, she’s met with stunned silence. It takes five seconds for something to happen, and that something is Erika firing a very shaky shot, the arrow flying past over a foot away from Moon’s head. 

“Okay.” She chuckles. “If that’s your answer.”

Then she presses a button, and the first floor is illuminated as all the floodlights outside are switched on, and then all the power flicks off.

In the cast of darkness, Moon reaches down and pries the gem from the swan’s eyes, tucking it into a pocket up her sleeve. She has Decidueye help her to the spiral staircase near the second floor and returns him just as the backup lights flick on. As much as she loved him and his aid, an Alola starter was much more conspicuous to have around than the regional bird. Even if the people didn’t quite believe Komadori was still using a Pidgeot, she’d done quite well to make sure Decidueye’s identity wasn’t discovered.

With the lights back on, Moon runs around the stairs until she reaches a wire and grabs it, swinging herself across the room and letting the wire propel her up. She does this a few times, using the length of the wires she’d cut after use to ascend to where they were attached, swinging around like she was on a vine. Panic breaks out below as they realize the gem was gone.

“You idiot!” Looker shouts into a radio. “Why would you turn on all the floodlights at once? Of course that would eat too much power! What? What do you mean _I_ told you to?!”

 _You did,_ Moon thinks. _When you said ‘turn the rest on.’_ Of course, that had been referring to the remainder of the hotel landings, but all it took was broadcasting that to the officers surrounding the outside of the hotel, and delaying it until she wanted them to hear.

Moon swings up to the seventh floor and breaks away, hiking over the railing and leaping the small space between the stairs and the landing. She moves for the stairwell immediately, taking out a radio she had stolen as she climbs up.

_“Komadori’s in the stairwell, sir!”_

_“Alright, lock the doors. Lock them all!”_

Moon hears the automatic lock as she passes the door to the ninth floor, but she runs past it, heading instead for the tenth. The lock is still green on this door, obstructed by the bowtie she’d stuffed between it, and Moon grins wickedly as she swings it open, letting the black silk fall to the floor.

She didn’t have access to the roof from this floor, so instead of using the uncovered windows as a distraction, Moon finds herself using them for real. With the elevator too far down and the door to the eleventh floor locked, Moon fires an arrow to burst one of the big windows and swings herself up to the eleventh floor. Ironically, as one hand is grasping the ledge, she uses the gem break a hole in the next window, unable to use her bow in her position. Topaz was harder than glass, after all.

Moon pulls herself through and darts around the corner to the roof entrance. Luckily, it was in a different stairwell than the main one, so she had no trouble in swinging the door open and hurrying outside, her head swiveling to find it empty.

She bends over on the middle of the roof to catch her breath, fists pressing to her knees. A sliver of moonlight unearths itself from the clouds, just then, and Moon takes it as a sign to uncurl her hand, holding the topaz before the light.

Not the one. This wasn’t Pandora. Moon sighs, a wave of disappointment washing over her.

She’s just barely slipped the gem back away when a shot rings out, and pain blooms from her side.

Moon staggers, a strangled panic escaping her lips, and both hands go to press just above her hipbone, where red was already bleeding through her clothes. 

She crumples to her knees, teeth gritted, and hears footsteps approach from behind. A voice follows.

“Been a long time, Komadori. Still playing Robin Hood I see.”

Moon narrows her eyes in pain and inclines her head back, just spotting a figure in black, gun lowered to their side but finger still ghosted over the trigger. She was lucky it only skimmed her side, but she knew next time that would not be the case.

“Though the reason you would target the nine gems _again_ escapes me. I could’ve sworn I killed you, too. Guess almost dying wasn’t much of a lesson.” They cock the gun with one hand and Moon flinches at the sound, one hand falling from her side to press to the roof, steadying her. “No matter. I will simply teach it to you again.”

They quickly lift the gun and Moon falls to the left, letting out a strangled cry as she lands hard on Decidueye’s pokeball, releasing her pokemon. _“Deci,”_ Moon whimpers, and Decidueye uses steel wing to block the next shot. Moon doesn’t have time to worry about the shooter recognizing her pokemon as _not a Pidgeot_ , instead scrambling back to her knees and inclining her head to the roof’s edge. Decidueye takes the hint and latches his claws onto her cloak, pulling them both up. The next bullet passes through as they turn intangible and Decidueye takes off. 

“Wait,” Moon gasps, not done yet realizing the situation. Decidueye seems to understand, and before they can leave the edge of the roof and he has to use his wings to keep them afloat, he uses them to fire an arrow quill that knocks the gun from _her father’s killer_. Moon looks up and glares as the figure panics slightly at the loss of their weapon. 

“If you want the topaz back,” she calls. “You’ll give me two hundred thousand.” She stomps her foot down on the roof’s edge, holding her face steady as a wave of pain washes over her. “From _these_ people,” she snarls, her stomp going to emphasize exactly _who_ she wanted it from.

Then the moon’s light is concealed once again, and she lets Decidueye take her away.

-

Komadori’s last heist has a big impact that Moon misses while she’s underground.

Erika’s family falls under investigation, and it’s only amplified when the gem returns. A raid of the roof revealed that the top two floors of the hotel were still occupied, and the danger the guests had been exposed to by Moon breaking the windows and being there riled people up. The hotel closed for three days following public outlash.

Security tightened all over the region as people really began to acknowledge Komadori was back in full. Moon’s shooter goes back to his colleagues and reveals what he had learned, and slowly, the gears begin to turn.

“I’ll do it. I’ll do what you couldn’t do,” a girl says, crouched over on the red roads. Her hand tightens into a fist. “I’ll avenge you.”

Moon breaks into fever during the first night underground. She’d haphazardly bandaged her wound and gone to sleep under protest. She stayed passed out for most of the next day, and at night, her pokemon went out themselves to retrieve the money in exchange for the gem.

Moon rebandages her wound and stumbles around the room, reading over what she’d already read and crying out and yelling and throwing things and getting upset. She finally collapses into a corner and sleeps for another fourteen hours.

When she comes home, Lillie notices her walk is off almost immediately, and gasps when she sees the graze.

“Archery accident,” she mumbles as Lillie pulls her to lie down on the couch. She stumbles from the room and returns with Clefairy’s pokeball. She brings out the fairy-type and leans over Moon’s face, her eyes already glossed over from pain.

“Clefairy, use life dew,” Lillie demands, keeping her voice soft but firm. She keeps her gaze on Moon. “You’re too careful for that.”

“Didn’t say it was my fault,” Moon mutters, and Lillie’s expression grows dark. “Hey, I said it was an accident. They didn’t mean to.” 

Her gaze softens again, and she pulls back to eye Moon’s wound when Clefairy finishes. It already looked so much better, and Moon’s face relaxes when she realizes it _felt_ better too.

“Don’t worry about it. Things happen,” Moon says, and Lillie nods.

“How was Lavender Town?” she asks.

“Fine,” Moon mumbles. “Can we talk about it later? I really wanna sleep.”

“Yeah, of course!” Lillie helps Moon to a stand and thanks her pokemon again before leading them to the bedroom. 

“Thank you,” Moon says, as Lillie pulls up a blanket to her chin. There’s a lot of weight in the words, more than what Lillie can come up with.

But for now, she lets Moon sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> i got wayyy too busy this month and only found time to write and edit the first half, still, i hope you enjoy it!! ill post part 2 sometime in january. have a great rest of the year !
> 
> edit;; surprise ! it's me. tumblr @cheswirls, hope everyone who's read it so far enjoys pt 2 as well


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